Carnival of Rust
by LuxahHeart
Summary: Fifteen years after Ray just walked out of Kai's life with no explanation, a boy pops up on his door step claiming to be his son. Running Hiwatari Enterprises and constantly under his competitors gaze, Kai knows he can't keep him safe. Harboring his anger towards Ray for having just up and left him, Kai's unsure how he'll react to finally seeing him after all these years. Yaoi.
1. Seek You Out

**Author's note:**

 **I don't own beyblade or it's characters.**

 **Here's another fic to keep us both busy, I do need another hobby...**

 **This story takes place 15 years after the American anime series, some nods to the manga, but only slightly.**

 **[] Represents speaking in Russian, or any other foreign language to me.**

 **Welp, hope you enjoy this.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _"I've made up my mind, Tyson. I'm sorry it has to be like this…" Ray trailed, prying Tyson's fingers from his arm where Tyson had clamped onto him for dear life._

 _"You can't just leave the team, not after everything we've been through!" Tyson dug his heels into the wooden floors of his dojo, barely slowing Ray down from his attempts at leaving._

 _"Please, Ray. There has to be another way, wait till Kai comes back and we'll talk this over. You can't just leave him, can you?" Tyson pleaded, his grip on Ray's arm loosening as he could feel Ray's muscles relax under his touch._

 _"It's because of him… That I have to do this…" Ray stopped his attempts of walking away, Tyson's hand falling from Ray's arm as he became to stunned to speak._

 _"W… Why? I thought… You two were happy?" Tyson mumbled, Ray only shook and hung his head as he stared at his feet._

 _Without another word from either of the boys, and those who had been watching it all unfold from the safety of the couch, Ray stomped down the hall to his room to fetch his things. Unbeknownst to them all that Kai had indeed been there to witness it all, hidden off in the dark corner by the front door, slipping inside after hearing the shouting match from outside._

 _"What do we do Tyson?" Max asked, his voice wavering as he peeked over the back of the couch._

 _"I don't think there's anything we can do…" Tyson mumbled, fighting back his tears as he clenched his fists at his side._

 _Without a sound Kai slipped back through the front door, the soft click going unheard by the others in the living room. He waited outside the front of the gate, leaning up against the cold stone that ran the property of the Granger's home. Heart pounding in his chest, he had never anticipated this happening, nor had he ever been in situation where he had to deal with this before._

 _The minutes ticked on and he caught sight of a taxi pulling up the road, stopping at the corner by the sidewalk in front of him. A few more minutes passed and he could hear the soft footsteps he had known all too well, for a second his heart stopped as Ray came up and stood beside him, bags clutched in one hand while another was slung over his shoulder._

 _"I'm sorry Kai." Ray began, though he didn't dare look beside him as he kept his eyes focused on the taxi in front of him._

 _"Are you?" Came Kai's cold and harsh reply, his eyes opening and starring off past the taxi as if he didn't see it there._

 _"Not really… No…" Ray said sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders a bit._

 _Kai's muscles tensed at the reply, but all he did in response was assume his natural cold and off distant look with a snort._

 _"Least you're honest, for once." Kai managed, after a few seconds of silence had loomed over them._

 _As Ray went to speak the taxi driver honked the horn, causing him to close his mouth and start for the taxi without a word. He filled the trunk with his bags and slipped into the back of the cab, not once looking back at Kai as the taxi drove off down the road. Through it all Kai had been screaming in his head for Ray to turn around, look at him or say something. His heart shattered when the door of the taxi had closed, Ray didn't look back and next thing he knew, he was standing there; alone. A cold shiver running down his back, and he bit his bottom lip._

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

Opening my eyes to the darkness of my room, I laid there starring up at my ceiling. It was spinning lazily around in circles, giving off a soft whirring sound as it spun. Replaying the dream in my head, though it was more than just a dream; it was a memory and a painful one at that. But it wasn't just a dream or a memory either, it was a nightmare and a constant reminder of my pathetic life.

Having to still my breathing a bit, I rested my head under my arms; sleep wasn't going to come back to me now and I didn't feel like getting out of bed just yet. It had been what; 15 years since that had happened? Though it didn't matter how long it had been, that memory was always as clear as the day it happened. It happened so fast and without warning, one day we were happy and the next Ray was up and gone. No word or reason why; I was such a fool.

I had never been in love before, he was my first; everything. I thought he was happy with me; guess not. I was happy with him, we started dating shortly after the third world championships. Having come near death I gathered the balls to tell him how I felt, he seemed overjoyed and not repulsed. Apparently, he had liked me too; how stupid I was back then.

We were both 16 and young, but for a while it didn't seem to matter how young we were. I had just turned 17 August second when he had left, and he'd be turning 17 on October eighth. The guys and Hilary were all set on throwing a party, while I was only concerned with the after party. Him leaving the way he did, threw all that planning to the wind. I ended up staying with them for another year, taking over Hiwatari Enterprises from my grandfather as I came of age and took the business with me to Russia.

Tyson insisted we go after him, though no one knew where to even begin looking. Sure, we knew he'd be going back to his village, but we didn't know where that was, Dickenson didn't even know where it was. The others tried to be sympathetic when around me, but I didn't need their pity. At the time I supposed I deserved it, my life was going too well for the gods to let me enjoy that bit of happiness. So, they took him away from me, just to remind me that I don't deserve to live a happy life. Being a Hiwatari cemented that fact, my life was never a pleasant one.

Beyond feeling heartbroken, I felt angry. I had given someone hold of my heart, for them to turn around and crush it. Voltaire would have scoffed at the idea, the great Kai Hiwatari being such a weak man to have his heart broken; he always said love was a weakness and he was right. I never made the same mistake twice, occasionally I'd have a lay here and there with some random person but it never meant anything. More than half of them were just after my wealth anyways, and I deemed them to be beneath me; because they were. Nobody was going to make a fool of me again.

It'd be good to say that I had changed into a better, more compassionate man, but that would be a lie. I became cold and hard, I crushed the competing companies for full supreme reign over the military arms distribution. Those who crossed me were dealt with, quietly and swiftly; leaving them on the verge of death each time as a warning. After a few years, nobody dared crossed me.

I lost contact with the others, though at times I'd catch news reports of them as they continued along the path of Beyblading. Of course, there was never any news on Ray. He could have been dead for all I knew, and I didn't care. Loving him was a mistake, even meeting him was a mistake. The constant worrying, I did when we were a team, the nights I'd stay up late to make sure he came home safely were all a waste of my time.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

A soft murmur emitted from under the cover beside Kai, waking him from his inner musing as the tuft of pale blonde hair poked over the hem of the sheets and stirred beside him. Dull green eyes fluttering open and blinking a few times in the darkness of the room, Kai only glanced over at the man beside him. He was a smaller, younger man than he was and Kai hadn't asked his age prior to bringing him to his bed that night.

"Hey baby." A pale arm snuck out from under the covers, reaching out to touch Kai's bare chest.

"Out." Came the command, not looking or moving from the younger man's hand.

"What?" The hand stopped, hanging between them, dull green eyes wide.

"I said, out." Kai deepened his tone.

"It's four in the fucking morning!" The pale blonde man sat up in the bed in a huff.

"That's my problem?" Kai asked, settling down into the warmth of his bed.

"Fuckin unbelievable." The blonde shook his head, pulling his naked self out from under the warm thick blankets. Shuffling around the dark for his clothes before he left the room in a flurry of anger, cursing under his breath as he slammed the door shut.

Kai didn't react, only closing his eyes as he let sleep take over him. The warmth from the other man left the other side of the bed, leaving it cold to the touch and he kept closer to his side of the bed as if it offended him. He didn't have dreams of memories again, able to sleep peacefully until his alarm sounded and woke him.

He started his day as he always did, being a terrible creature of habit. First with a warm shower, dressing in a dark suit for work after drying and combing his slate bangs back out of his face, tying the dark-blue strands in a low pony tail that fell around his shoulder blades. Having two cups of coffee with his breakfast; provided by the house maid. His usual morning phone call to Tala, getting his list of meetings and plans for the day before heading out the door all by ten o'clock. Though the habit was broken the moment he opened the front door, pausing in the doorway as crimson eyes locked onto another set of crimson eyes.

The boy, looking to be 15 years old, stood on the porch of his home. Standing just under Kai's chin, he was visibly shaking from the cold; in a small thin jacket that looked worn out and too big for him to be wearing. His skin was pale but his cheeks and nose were tinted red and stung from the bitterness of the air. The boy wore a dark blue wool cap, short black hair poking out around the rim and where the sun caught it, Kai could make out the natural slate colored highlights within the locks.

"I'm sorry sir… But… Are you Kai? Kai Hiwatari?" The boy shook more as another gust of wind caught him, clinging to his jacket to keep from freezing completely. His legs shook, only wearing brown colored shorts that looked ragged and tattered; much like his jacket wearing black cotton slippers on his feet.

"I don't do charity boy, now move." Kai's hand rested on the edge of the door, and when the boy didn't move his grip tightened against the wood. "I don't like repeating myself." He growled between clenched teeth.

"I'm not here for that." Shaking, the boy reached into his pocket.

Kai tensed, quietly reaching behind his back and gripping the handle of his gun that rested in its holster; hidden under his jacket. He kept his hand on the handle, having unclasped the leather strap that held the gun in its place as he watched the boy dig out a piece of paper and held it out at arm's length.

"What is this?" Kai sneered, his hand not leaving the handle of his gun as he looked from the paper to boy's face.

"Please… Just read it." The boy said, teeth chattering as he used his free hand to keep his jacket closed around his small frame.

Kai released the door and snatched the paper from the boy's fingers, who quickly drew them back into the sleeves of his jacket. Kai's other hand not leaving his backside, though his grip loosened slightly on the guns handle. His eyes danced over the paper a few times, glancing up at the boy every now and then.

"You really expect me to believe this shit?" Kai scoffed, tossing the paper back at the boy, getting carried away by the wind.

"I have no reason to lie to you. What it says is the truth, whether you want to believe it or not." Even though the boy was freezing down to the bone, his tone rivaled Kai's own and he gave a pointed stare at the man.

Kai's eyes narrowed, he never took well to when others spoke to him in such a way; it made his blood boil. Crimson locked onto crimson again, snow started drift down around them but went unnoticed. Kai released his grip on his gun, stepping forward as the boy took a step back, his eyes not leaving Kai's as he continued to glare at him. Closing the door behind him, Kai reached out quickly and grabbed the boy by the wrist and started pulling him off the steps of his porch.

"We'll see about that." Kai growled, throwing open the door to the car that was waiting for them and shoved the boy inside the warmness of the car.

Kai slid in after him, slamming the door closed. Once settled the driver, without a word, pulled out of the driveway and down the fresh snow-covered roads. The boy sat quietly beside Kai, starring out the window as he watched the city of Moscow roll by him, rubbing his hands together to get the feeling back in his numb fingers. Kai didn't bother giving him a second glance, pulling out his phone as he went to Tala's number and placed it to his ear as it started to ring.

["Cancel the twelve o'clock meeting, somethings come up."] The boy turned slightly, not understanding a word Kai was speaking.

["Is everything alright?"] Came Tala's emotionless reply, truly he could care less, he knew Kai well enough that he wasn't in any mortal danger.

["It better be…"] Kai mumbled, then hung up before Tala could respond.

Stuffing his phone in the pocket on the inside of his suit jacket he rested against the leather seats of the car, pressing a button that caused the divider window to roll down slightly.

["Take us to the hospital."] With that he pressed the button again, the window rolling up.

"You got a name?" Kai asked, his voice causing the boy beside him to jump in his seat.

"Kain, it was on the paper I gave you…" The boy murmured, fiddling with the ends of his jacket sleeves that ran past his fingers.

"How did you get here?" He wasn't truly that interested, but he figured if the kid had ulterior motives he'd more than likely slip something up.

"Hitchhiked most of the way…" The boy shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

The two fell silent once more, the ride to the hospital taking much longer as the roads became littered in fresh fallen snow. When they had arrived Kai stepped out, holding the door open for Kain as he slid out from the back. Kai slammed the door and again, stalking off towards the entrance of the ER doors. Kain following slowly behind him, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

An hour had gone by that we had been in the hospital, we had given the nurse a spit sample and were now sitting together in a small room. Kain sat on the bed, kicking his feet out to keep busy; even though it was irritating to watch. I kept to the corner of the room, my muscles tense and my back rigid against the plastic chair. With every minute passing, my patience was growing thin.

None of this made sense, today wasn't supposed to happen like this. I had been planning on closing a deal with another rivaling company, not drag some kid to the hospital and get a damn paternity test. This had to be some kind of sick joke, I don't even know why I'm bothering with it. It's impossible for him to be my child, I've never laid with a woman. Though it wasn't a woman's name that had been signed on that birth certificate, it was Ray's name while my name had been placed under the father's section. It's a good thing the wind took it off, though I'm sure this kid could produce more fake copies.

"Mr. Hiwatari?" A nurse knocked on the door and I stood, eager to get this over with.

She smiled between Kain and me, looking down at her clipboard and back up as her smile grew.

"Congratulations, it's a boy." Was that supposed to be funny? Cus I sure as hell was not laughing.

"I told you." Kain scoffed at me, though I ignored him.

"You're wrong, he's not my son!" For once I lost control of my vocal chords, shouting louder than I had intended and the nurse turned whiter than a sheet of paper.

"We can do a blood sample, if you'd like instead. But these results are a perfect match." Her voice was shaking and my blood was boiling now, fists clenching to my sides.

"I can't have a son, I'm fucking gay!" I didn't care if the world new, it didn't change who I was or how people feared me.

"There's nothing more I can do sir, I'm sorry." The nurse looked to be on the verge of tears now and before I lashed out again she ran out of the room.

Kain sighed from the bed and I turned my attention to him, looking him over again quickly. This wasn't right; he had my eye and skin color, my high cheeks bones and the slate colored hair mixed with the black, raven, on his head. If it had been possible, he would have been the perfect mash-up of Ray and myself, but it wasn't possible.

"Who put you up to this, what do you get out of all this?" I snapped at him and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Nobody put me up to this, dad doesn't even know I came here." He retorted, crossing his arms. That was another thing, his mannerisms matched my own.

"Don't test me boy, this isn't possible. You are not my son, so tell me now what company you work for."

"I don't work for any 'company', you dumbass." He sneered, if my blood pressure hadn't been high before, it sure as hell was now.

"Excuse you!?" I bellowed, narrowing my eyes towards him and taking a step towards him. Shooting him on my door step would have been a better choice than dealing with this.

"I'm your son, I already told you this. The nurse even told you this." He gestured towards the closed door, but my eyes didn't leave his.

"You know what, this has been fun kid." I straightened my back, I was the adult here, I didn't have to deal with this. "Come near me again and I'll kill you." I threatened and started to walk past him to the door.

"I'm not letting you leave just like that. Do you know what I went through to get here?" This kid had some balls, to have grabbed my wrist and talk to me in such a way. He may have looked dirt poor, but whoever was paying him to do this must have been paying him good to keep up this whole charade.

"Frankly I don't give a damn, now stop this stupid nonsense and get out before I…" I don't know what possessed me to look back at him, but when I did I was caught off guard.

His eyes, his pupils to be exact, were slits mirroring that of a cat's when angry or in the light. I had seen the other neko-jins, Ray's, pupils do the same plenty of times when they were angry. Through his parted lips I could see two fangs sticking under his upper lip, looking less like me and more like Ray would have when angered.

"H… How?" My voice betrayed me again, and I spoke barely above a whisper.

"Oh, did I convince you now?" He said with a mock tone, releasing my wrist and crossing his arms over his chest again.

I glanced around the room, even though we were the only ones in there and grabbed his wrist, hauling him out of the room and back to the car. This wasn't making any sense to me, but somehow, I was convinced now. He didn't try to pull away or protest, having thrown him back into the back of the car I slid down next to him, the window rattling as I slammed the door shut once more.

"Don't speak." I cut him off as I saw him open his mouth to say something, he obeyed and closed his mouth.

I called Tala, being my secretary and all, I had him cancel all meetings for the rest of the day, to say I was less pleased than having to do that would be an understatement; I was livid. I had us taken to the office all the same though, Tala would be there and I was hoping he'd be able to give me some insight on this.

"That's impossible Kai, you're sounding like a mad man." Tala scoffed, having done his walk around Kain a few times as he inspected him.

"Don't you think I know that?" I said through gritted teeth, resting my forehead into the palm of my hand as I leaned against my desk.

Kain was sitting on the couch across the office, looking bored and more annoyed than before. He had snarled and growled at Tala as he had inspected him, finally having enough of it he put up a good distance between him and the redhead.

"What are you going to do? It's obvious he's a neko-jin, but how can he be your son?" Tala asked, glancing over his shoulder at Kain one last time before resting his arms across his chest.

"How the fuck should I know? I haven't seen Ray in fifteen years, haven't heard from him, nobody has." Then it hit me, and I sat up from my desk. "Boy." I barked out and he looked up at me, frowning at my choice of word from which I had called him.

"It's Kain." He narrowed his eyes at me, and I gave him my own pointed stare.

"How old are you?" Tala was looking between me and him as we each spoke, his head swiveling on his neck.

"Fifteen, my birthday is June twelfth."

I didn't respond, quickly gathering a sheet of paper and pen I started to do the math in my head while writing out a timeline on the paper. Ray had left us October fourth, four days before his birthday. Give or take a few days, June was nine months from when he had left us. The grip on my pen faltered and it clacked against the desk, rolling off onto the floor. Tala leaned over the desk, observing what I had written out and sighed loudly before straightening his back.

"Is this why Ray left? Do you know?" Tala broke the silence as I was to stun to speak, it still wasn't making any sense; Ray was a man.

"Dad never told me anything about that stuff, he just told me that I was his and his ex-boyfriends kid. I thought it weird at first, but he explained it to me and that being a neko-jin allowed him the ability to get pregnant if he were with another man." The boy shrugged, acting as if this wasn't as serious as it sounded.

"How did you find me then?" I managed, if Ray hadn't told him my name then how did he know who I was?

"He wouldn't tell me anything, and I got curious about my other father. I mean, who wouldn't be when you have two biological dads? So, I did some digging, a lot of digging, and came across an old article about the team you two had been on. Your name was listed under your picture, and just from looking at you I knew you were my father. It took me a while to find my birth certificate, so thanks for letting it get carried in away in the wind." He explained to us, Tala looked back down at me as if silently telling me he was impressed at Kain's detective skills. I was more pissed at his tone with me.

"You said Ray doesn't know you came?" He shook his head no, but he didn't seem to be feeling all that guilty for having ran away from home.

"What are you trying to accomplish by finding me? Surely you don't expect me to go back with you to see him?" Even though my words were harsh, I could feel my heart beat faster at the thought of seeing Ray; even if it was only to beat the living shit out of him for doing this to me.

"Well. It is almost Christmas, so yeah. That was sort of my plan." He shrugged, he was too cocky for his own good. Something I could see him inheriting from Ray.

I leaned back into my chair, mulling over the idea a bit while Tala and Kain looked on at me. Did I want to see him, ask him why he ran off because he was pregnant? I knew I didn't want to get back with him, and I definitely didn't want to be a father to Kain. Even if I wanted to, if Ray wanted to, the way I ran my business wasn't safe for either of them. My life was always in danger, competing companies were always trying to take me down. Luckily, I had employed Bryan and Spencer as the muscle that dealt with those problems, Ian worked in the developmental part of the company, but he knew how to kill if need be; just like Tala and I did.

"So, what do you say Kai?" Kain called from the couch, wearing a smile that allowed one of his fangs to poke over his bottom lip.

I simply nodded, if anything I was just doing it so I could strangle Ray to death. Tala gave me a questioning look, but didn't voice his opinion to me. Kain's smile widened and he clapped his hands together.

"Great! When do we leave?"

* * *

 **Author's note 2:**

 **For those of you that read Do Us Part, yes. I am reusing the character Kain. I fell in love with his concept design, even if this isn't the same one, he looks the same and acts the same as the other. This story does not take part in that universe, as this is a separate story line.**

 **I got their birth dates offline, there were a few too choose from, I read August 2nd was the official date for Kai given by the creator, but there were other's also listed, so I used that one. While other dates were listed for Ray, but to have him younger than Kai, I went for October 8th.**


	2. Don't Mess With Me

**Author's note:**

 **For those that read What Is Love. I pulled that off of here because I honestly had no idea what I was doing with it, but I liked what I had written and chopped it up to fit into this story.**

 **Warning's include. Blood, Death, and Violence.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _"Do you even know what love is?"_

 _"Huh?" Kai blinked, he had hardly been paying attention to Ray's words. Ray sighed, placing his hands on his hips as he stood in front of Kai. Resting against the plush brown couch, newspaper spread open on his lap. One leg crossed over the other, glasses pulled slightly down the bridge of his nose. He had been talking to Ray while reading the paper, focusing more on the written words than the ones being spoken. Ray had been sitting earlier in the chair to his right, but now he was standing in front of him; looking a bit more displeased with every passing second that kept them in silence._

 _"Of course, I do." Kai finally scoffed, folding the paper in his lap in half, leaning back further into the couch till his eyes locked onto Ray's._

 _"I don't think you do." Ray said, holding up a hand to stop Kai from speaking more as his mouth opened to protest._

 _"I'll tell you what it means to me." Ray began, resting his raised hand to his hip once again._

 _Their eyes never strayed from the others, the air in the room wasn't thick and suffocating, but it wasn't very comfortable either; not like it had been before Kai chose to ignore Ray's talking._

 _"Love to me is simple, and complicated; much like you. You can be easy to read when you want people to, or you can become so hard to read no one can come within two feet of you." Kai snorted at Ray's words, a bemused expression on his face mixed with mild curiosity and anger. He crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes; what was this all about anyways? They were together already, had been for about two months, so what was Ray going on about?_

 _"Love to me is strong and weak all at once; still much like you. You are strong, at least you have the capability of being strong. Strong willed, strong physically, you don't waver or falter when people have different opinions than yours. Yet, you are weak. You're weak when it comes to finding your own faults, when you can easily pick out others. Weak, when it comes to consoling someone, because you don't understand feelings as others do." Ray paused, making sure he still had Kai's attention; he did and he didn't like the frown on his boyfriend's face but he continued._

 _"Love is knowing what you want, and what you don't want. If you want something you go for it, because you know you want it. What you don't want is rejection and hurt, whoever wants that? But, that all comes with being in love. Being in love can hurt, more so than anything else in this world. That is why I believe you don't know what it is, because you don't hurt easily, but you don't feel easily either." Ray paused as he saw Kai's back stiffen a bit, he knew this wasn't going to be easy but he had to keep going._

 _"Love, is when you have given your heart to someone to keep. Much like I have done already, and it terrified me from the beginning. If you say jump, I'd jump. If you jumped, I'd try and catch you and if I couldn't, I'd follow you. It can be a beautiful thing, or a disastrous thing because you as a person aren't who you used to be once you're in love." Ray stood there for a second, trying to read Kai's blank expression. Every other emotion he had had before was now gone, but his eyes were still locked onto Ray's._

 _"Love is only listening to their voice and their opinions above all else, their words have more weight than others now and you're not sure why. You don't want to upset or disappoint them, and when you do it eats you alive. Yet, when they love you back, they console you and tell you it's alright. It can be a fleeting thing, love, or it can plague you for the rest of your life; if you let it. Which it has…" Ray pulled his arms around himself, becoming a bit more nervous now as he spoke._

 _"My love for you… Has given me all these things, hope and passion. Hurt and heartbreak that I thought I would die from, yet I never did because you were still here in the morning. I have given you my heart, but I feel as though you've yet to give me yours." He paused, holding a hand up to stop Kai from talking as he moved to the edge of the couch._

 _"My love for you hasn't been easy, always watching you from afar with an occasional chat somewhere in between. You helped me become a better blader, a better friend and a better man. That is why I love you, just as you've helped me I've helped you too, whether you want to admit it to anyone or not is moot. But that's what people do when they're in love, they help each other. You may not consider what you've done in the past as love, and that's fine I understand. You are our captain, so it was your job to help us."_

 _"Ray." Kai finally spoke but he didn't move from the edge of the seat, having to strain his neck in order to keep looking up at Ray._

 _"Let me finish, please." Kai closed his mouth, nodding slightly for Ray to continue. He could tell this wasn't easy for him, and it certainly wasn't easy for himself._

 _"I love you, Kai Hiwatari. I have told you, over and over and yet you've never said it back. We don't go out, you don't touch me or tell me what's on your mind. You keep your walls up around me, when I should be the one you let in. So why did you even bother to ask me to be yours, if this was how it was going to be?" Ray's eyes teared up._

 _Kai had never seen him so full of raw emotion before, at least not like this. He had seen his emotions while blading, arguing, and laughing, but he had never looked so vulnerable; until now. Kai swallowed hard, mulling over the words Ray had spoken to him, the things he had confessed._

 _They had only been dating for less than two months, Ray had been overjoyed to know Kai wanted to be with him, but Kai had yet to act as if they were actually together and that bothered Ray, he knew it did but he could never bring himself to be the doting boyfriend Ray wanted. They never held hands, they hadn't kissed yet nor did they cuddle together on the couch at night. Ray had told Kai plenty of times that he loved him, and Kai would change the subject or simply walk away._

 _"Ray…" Kai began, his voice was shaky and he coughed to get his vocal cords in working order._

 _Ray's face paled slightly, shifting where he stood but keeping his eyes locked on Kai's. Trying to find a hint of what his emotion might be, what his eyes might tell him that his mouth wouldn't._

 _"I appreciate you telling me. You're right, I don't know how to feel what you're feeling… But… There is something about you that I find interesting, I don't know what it is… You're just easy to talk to, to keep around for good company and you're stronger than you give yourself credit for. You keep this place sane, to the best of your abilities, you have admirable traits; both physically and mentally." Resting his elbows on his knees, he leaned his chin on his laced fingers._

 _His heart was racing in his chest, he was sure Ray could hear it. He had never been this open with anyone before and it felt like the first time Kai had asked Ray to be his boyfriend, though this time it seemed harder to get his words in order._

 _"Kai?" Ray shifted again, his color had returned to normal._

 _"It's my turn to talk." Kai cut him off, giving him a hard stare before continuing._

 _"I'll be honest with you… You talked about loving me from afar, so you already know I won't be an easy man to love up close. Even with your descriptions, I can't really place this… Feeling… I have, but whatever it is… I'd like to try and make this work." His eyes closed, his voice shaking and betraying him yet again._

 _His heart was now causing his nerves to tremble, he had never felt so scared in his life. Was this the complicated part Ray had mentioned? But, was he even in love or merely infatuated with his teammate? Why had he gone up to him and asked to be his in the first place, was he just afraid of losing Ray to someone else?_

 _"You mean it? You… You want to try?" His words came out barely above a whisper, his heart dropping and flipping in his chest with excitement and dread._

 _"I… I think so?" For once, he was unsure._

 _He had never been unsure in his life, he always knew what he wanted. Maybe this is what Ray meant before, knowing and not knowing what you want. He knew he didn't want Ray to be with someone else, that was why he had gone to him in the first place. He didn't want to hurt Ray, not ever again like he had their first year as a team, but he didn't know how to express his feelings to the other. He was always told love was a weakness, and Kai never wanted to be weak._

 _There it was again though, that feeling he always knew about. The one that always seemed to come out of nowhere and pull him towards the tiger, like a moth to a flame. The reason he had even approached Ray and asked to be with him. He didn't want Ray with someone else, he wanted Ray simply because Ray was Ray. He had admired him from afar as well, his looks and personality were enough to catch his attention and he concluded that he did love Ray. His stomach churned and flipped, his heart finally finding its steady rhythm once more._

 _"Do… Do you think you could ever love me? The way I, do you?" Ray broke his train of thought, lifting his head his hands till crimson met gold once more._

 _"Maybe." A small smile crossed his lips. "I think that I should try and be a better boyfriend for you, I don't want to see you with someone else, nor do I want to hurt you and I'm sorry if I have."_

 _At his words a large smile crossed Ray's nervous face, washing away the uneasiness within him. His heart soared and he felt relief, their relationship could finally feel like a real one to him now. Now, he had a chance to have his love fully reciprocated._

 _"I… I don't know what to say." Ray breathed out, unknowing he hadn't breathed since Kai began speaking. "Thank you… Kai… All I want, is a chance." He smiled, a fang popping out from under his upper lip._

 _Kai nodded and stood, only having to step once in order to be in front of Ray. A shaking hand placed itself on Ray's shoulder, he wasn't sure what he was doing and it showed in the way his eyes danced over Ray's face. Ray's breath caught in his throat again, but he didn't dare move, still sporting that smile on his lips. Regaining a bit more of his composure, Kai leaned down and placed a quick kiss to Ray's lips, having barely missed scraping his own on Ray's pointed fang._

 _A slight spark shot down Ray's back, even with the quick and fleeting feeling upon his lips. His lips twitched slightly and tingled where he could still feel Kai's lips on his, his first kiss wasn't as powerful as he had expected but it was enough to make his head feel heavy. Kai pulled back, his hand still on Ray's shoulder. His eyes grew slightly wider, starring at Ray with a questioning look._

 _"What… What was that?" Kai breathed out, as if they had been locked in a more heated kiss._

 _"You felt it too?" Ray asked._

 _Kai nodded. Once his lips had touched Ray's a strong jolt had ran down the back of his neck to his heels, surging back up to his head. It had just been a simple touch of skin on skin, yet it felt like he had been locked in with him for hours. He was breathless and shaking harder than before, willing not to make a fool of himself further, he steadied his breathing and clamped his hand down on Ray's shoulder tighter as he snuck his other arm around Ray's waist. Pulling the younger teen closer till their lips met again, the spark surging down their bodies again._

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

"Are you sure about this? My clothes were fine." Kain called from behind the dressing room, thankful to him for pulling me out of my memories.

"You'll catch your death out there in that trash." I called back, resting into the booth that sat across from his closed door.

I had to bring him to the mall to get proper winter clothes, what he was wearing would have killed him in this weather. I was surprised he wasn't sick yet, he told me that him and Ray don't live all that well off and that's why his clothes were either too big or old and worn out. I'm still trying to process it all, him being my kid and being born by Ray. Yes, I am still beyond pissed but I couldn't let my flesh and blood go about looking _like_ that and daring the Russian winters to kill him.

He had come and stayed with me that night, it was awkward to say the least. He had gawked at the size of the house, mansion, and fawned over the expensive electronics in every room. He was a talker, more so than I had been expecting and I got the run down on his entire life story over dinner.

He was born in Shanghai, which was surprising to me, I had always thought Ray would have gone back to his village; which was closer to Hong Kong than Shanghai was. He told me he was eight pounds, and so many ounces and his length when he was born, stuff I didn't really care about since I hadn't asked him for any of it. Ray was working as a waiter in a restaurant not far from their home, Kain had a decent education and was actually top of his class; call it parental instincts but I was proud to know that. He liked to beyblade, having inherited Driger from Ray and showed him off too me; something else I was proud of.

He went off about other things, broken bones and ER visits were common for him. His tonsils had been removed, or it could have been his appendix, I don't remember; I wasn't paying attention. He had two best friends, but I don't remember their names, along with the rest of the story.

"These are too small." Kain stepped out of the dressing room, tossing the pair of black pants at me.

"Really?" I scorned, having caught the flying jeans before they hit me in the face. His antics were grating my nerves, my fingers itched for my gun more than once since we had gotten here.

"The other three fit, so we can just get those. I'll make sure dad pays you back when we get there." He said off handedly, ignoring my remark from earlier and went back into the dressing room for the clothes that did fit him.

Like before, I didn't ask for his life story and I wasn't particularly eager to hear about Ray's and when he began I cut him off completely. He didn't seem to mind, shrugging it off as if it didn't bother him. After spending a good thousand and some change for new clothes, I took us back to my house. I hadn't gotten the plane tickets yet, mainly because I wasn't all that anxious to be going, but I needed him out of my life.

When we got home he smacked the servant's hands away from his twenty bags, ten in each hand, as he carried them up the stairs to his temporary room; he was an annoyingly stubborn kid, something he must have gotten from both of us.

"Thanks again Kai!" He called from the top of the stairs.

Ignoring him I went to my study for two reasons; plane tickets and alcohol. By the time he had found me, I was still going over tickets and had finished about three glasses of vodka and was working on my fourth. This kid of mine, is a weird one. I don't know what gave him the inclination to do what he did, but when he reached out for the glass that sat to my right, I smacked his hand away from it.

"The fuck you think you're doing?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Dad's cool with it." He shrugged, and then snatched the glass off the table and downed it before I could stop him; much like Ray, his movements were fast and fluid and I couldn't stop him.

"You do know I still have a gun on me?"

"Yeah, I know." He shrugged as he walked over to the armchair by the fire across the room from me. "How's the ticket hunting going?" He asked over his shoulder.

I didn't answer him, scrolling through the list of options. The sooner I got him out of here the better, though I wasn't willing to pay what they were asking for and opted for a flight at the end of the week. Somehow, I had to find a way through this week, I had meetings upon meetings tomorrow since I took off yesterday and today; Tala could only do so much for me.

"Do you still blade?" He asked out of the blue, guess he didn't like the silence.

"No." I sighed out, he never shuts up.

"Bummer… Why not?" He looks over at me again and I turn off the computer, resting back into my chair.

"Just don't." I shrugged my shoulders at him. Now I know where he gets it from.

"Hn… Want to go a few rounds?" His grin turned to a frown as I shook my head, standing to leave him in there and escape his attempts at 'bonding' or whatever the hell it was he was trying to do.

The night dragged on, and on and one. Kain, talked and talked and talked. Every time I thought I had lost him, he had found me. I was pretty impressed since most people get lost in my home, Tala even has troubles remembering where half the rooms are and he's been here more times than I care to count. It was like Kain had a homing sensor stuck in his brain, if he had one, that tracked me down. Eventually it became sort of a game, at least to him it was. I started timing him when I was able to get away, his best time was under ten minutes which had surprised me since I had gone down into the cellar behind the false bookshelf.

Dinner was once again accompanied by his childhood stories and I just tuned that shit out, this kid was going to make me blow my own brains out; I should have taken the earlier flights. After dinner I locked him out of my room, he padded up and down the hall in front of the door for an hour before he left. I made sure to lock my studies, where most of the alcohol was to keep him from taking any. I hadn't done much but I was exhausted, barely undressed I toppled onto the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

Kain wandered down second-floor the halls, still ogling the high ceilings and marble flooring under his sock clad feet. Dressed in his new set of pajamas, keeping his body warm he took a left down the hall and came face to face with one of the large windows overlooking the back of the house. He stopped in front of it, admiring the garden that was slowly being covered in snow. There was a pool house to the right of the back of the house, the grey brick wall that encompassed the perimeter of the property was barely visible through the darkness of the night. Flood lights were on, casting a warm glow on the snow and the house where they were aimed.

After standing there for a while longer he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started back down the hall, coming up to a flight of stairs before him he started his descent when something caught his hearing. Pausing on the second step he froze and quieted his breathing, focusing on his hearing abilities to pick up the faint sound of dogs barking in the distance outside. Kai had about twenty patrolling around the grounds, ones that he had successfully avoided when he had jumped the walls the day before.

The barking became more erratic outside and he started down the stairs again, quickening his pace with each step. Rounding the corner of the stairs he treaded quietly down the hall Kai's room was at, halfway down the length of the hall a loud gunshot rung out and he did all he could not to jump out of his skin from the sound. One dog's barking had ceased, and he took off in a brisk jog to Kai's bedroom door.

As he reached it the sound of glass shattering in the kitchen echoed through the halls, his fist pounding on Kai's door after he tried opening it. His hearing picked up four voices whispering in hushed and hurried conversation, though he couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Go to bed." Kai's mumbled voice came through the door, and Kain knocked on the door harder with his fist.

"I said go!" Kai bellowed out, Kain was starting to sweat as the voices were becoming more audible.

"Shit, Kai get up there's people in the house!" He said in a quick whisper, taking a quick glance over his shoulder.

The door swung open so fast he jumped back from it, biting his lips to keep from screaming out.

"What are you talking about?" Kai grumbled.

"You can't hear them? There's four of them in the kitchen, they shot one of your dogs." Kain said hurriedly, his voice filled with panic.

He wasn't used to others not being able to hear what he did, forgetting that Kai was just a mere human and not a neko-jin like he and Ray were. The stone walls were too thick for Kai to hear anything through, and even the voices were too far off for him to hear.

"There's nobody here, now go to bed." Kai said as he began to close his door, Kain jutted a foot out between the door and the wall stopping it.

"I'm serious!" Kain growled in his throat, his pupils slitting as he became angry.

Kai went to say something again when the shrill scream of a servant rung out throughout the house, followed after by a gunshot which caused Kain to jump again, his head snapping to his right as he looked down the hall where the commotion was from. He jumped again when a hand clasped down on his shoulder and he was shoved into Kai's room, almost tripping over his feet as he stumbled inside.

"Grab my cell phone, call Bryan and tell him what's going on and tell him to bring Spencer. Stay here." Kai commanded over his shoulder, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him as he pulled his gun from its holster on his back.

Kain nodded at the closed door, running over to the side table and picking up the phone that sat there. He swiped his hand across the screen, and cursed under his breath as it required a passcode. With shaking fingers, he typed out _Dranzer_ , it failed. Chewing his bottom lip and tapping his foot on the floor he thought of another passcode; _Beyblade_ and it too failed. _Tala_ , _Bladebreakers_ , _Hiwatari_ , _Abbey_ , all came up as failed attempts. Not really thinking he typed again, praying that it would work this time as he could hear the onslaught of gun fire echoing in the house. _Ray_ , and the phone unlocked.

With an exasperated sigh he went to the phone log and found Bryan's number, putting the phone to his ear as he started to pace nervously across the room. A disgruntled hello came through and he pulled the phone closer to his mouth and started in a rush whisper where his words mixed together.

"I didn't understand a damn thing you said, slow down." Bryan grumbled again.

"Kai said to call you and get here quickly, bring Spencer too. There's people breaking into the house, Kai left me in his room."

"What?! Who the fuck is this?!" Kain rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about that, just get here now!" He yelled into the phone and hit the end call button.

He had been so wrapped up in the conversation that he had lost track of the sounds of the fight outside the door, tossing the phone onto the bed he started digging through the dresser drawers and the closet. To his surprise he had found a gun in each drawer, placed under a piece of clothing or in a box somewhere in the closet. He took out a smaller hand gun, the cool metal on his skin calmed his nerves, pocketing a second one in his waistband before he took off out of the door. Picking up the sounds of a scuffle coming from the first living room, he took off in a run down the hall.

There were more now, five more and he could hear them coming through different windows and rooms throughout the house. Ignoring them and praying that Bryan and Spencer were coming, he slid into the opening of the living room and drew his gun up. Ignoring the three dead bodies that littered the room around him, he trained his gun on the man Kai was busy fist fighting across the room.

Narrowing his eyes he shot, three consecutive shots rang out and the man fell dead. Kai paused, having jumped back from the man he was still holding onto, dropping the body to the floor and snapped his head towards Kain.

"I told you to stay." Kai glared, though it wasn't as impressive as it normally was.

His right eye was blackened and swelling shut, his lips were split in several spots and his left ear was gushing blood that trickled down his neck and into the collar of his shirt. His hair was matted from sweat and blood against his forehead, and his clothes were torn apart. His arms were bruising and there were fresh cuts along his upper forearms, and Kain could tell he was favoring his right leg.

"There's more coming, here." Kain ignored the glare and tossed Kai the second gun from his waistband.

"Where are they?" Kai asked as he stepped over beside the boy, checking the clip quickly.

"One is in your room, another is on the second-floor study. Two are coming down the stairs at the back of the house…. And one is behind us." He whispered the last part, having just heard the click of the hammer behind him.

Shoving Kai away from him, in a low crouch Kain spun around and shot at the man behind them. Two bullets pierced through the man's legs, causing him to drop on his knees to the ground in a howl of pain. Kai regained his footing and shot at the man, hitting him between the eyes and the man's body fell over backwards.

"Shit." Kain hissed, reaching up and holding his left shoulder where the bullet had grazed him. His warm blood spilling into his hands, he bit his lip to still his nerves.

"You need to go to the cellar and hide there." It took a minute before Kai could find his voice, his eyes locked onto the blood that was spilling over Kain's fingers.

"No… I'm fine." Kain shook his head, steadying his footing and swayed slightly. The wound hissed and seared with pain but he put up a front, giving Kai a sloppy grin where a fang poked over his lips. "There's a car coming up the drive." His ears twitched at the sound of the tires crunching along the snow, and Kai nodded to him.

"Go to the cellar now, we'll handle this." Kai gently nudged Kain away from him, seeing the pained expression on the teens face.

Kain nodded, gripping his shoulder tighter as he stumbled his way to the study where the false bookcase was. As he entered the study he could make out the rushed commands in Russian, then the sound of heavy boots scattering around the house. By the time he had reached the last step of the cellar he fell to his knees, the side of his shirt soaked in blood and his vision was coming in and out as his pupils dilated from slits to round in rapid intervals.

"Damn…" He cursed, falling over as everything went dark.


	3. King of Fools

**Author's note:  
**

 **And the plot thickens!**

 **I know these are coming out really fast, but I have one more to do before I call it a night. After that, I don't really know when I'll get back to this. It's all just kind of coming at me while I write it out. Not to mention I have to get back to Forsaken.**

 **Either way, hope you enjoy this chapter all the same.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _"Dinner was really good, where'd you learn to cook? I didn't think of you as the cooking type really." Ray asked as he handed Kai another plate out of the running faucet to dry._

 _Kai paused for a second, having taken the plate Ray offered him as he pondered over whether or not to tell him. Ray could see the wheels turning in Kai's head, fearing he may have already over stepped he quickly recovered._

 _"It's alright, you don't have to tell me." Ray shrugged, cleaning off another plate in the soapy water._

 _"My mother." Kai's words were barely above a whisper, but he knew Ray could hear him._

 _Ray was happy to have gotten an answer, but he felt bad for having asked. He knew Kai was a private person, and anything to do with his life before the Bladebreakers wasn't something he talked about. Another month had passed since they had started dating and it was still hard to get Kai to open up to him, but he felt closer to him now since their talk a month ago. They did things actual couples would do; they held hands and kissed, often, it was still too early for either of them to be thinking of sex, but Ray knew Kai was trying, and that's all he could ask of him right now._

 _"I learned from my uncle, you know the one in France?" Ray said._

 _"Is… Is he your only relative?" Kai asked, truth be told he knew little about Ray's own family, much like Ray knew little of his._

 _It wasn't like Kai to pry into the personal lives of others, but seeing as how he said he would give try, he figured he could be a bit more vocal. He always liked the talks he and Ray had before, so why would these be any different now that they were a couple?_

 _"Yeah…" Ray nodded, handing him another plate._

 _"What happened to your parents?"_

 _"Dunno, no one would ever tell me. I wasn't old enough to remember them when, whatever it was that happened to them happened." Ray shrugged, unplugging the sink to let the drain suck up the soapy water. "Yours?" Ray turned so his back leaned against the counter, watching Kai dry the last plate._

 _"My father's still alive, I haven't seen him in about eleven years though. I remember being close to him when I was younger, he was the one who got me into Beyblading in the first place." Kai explained, placing the now clean and dry plates back into the cupboard behind his head._

 _"What about your mom?"_

 _"I don't know." Kai shrugged, resting against the counter behind him crossing his arms over his chest. "After I went to the Abbey, I lost all contact with both of them. Last I knew she was alive, but since I haven't spoken to my father or Voltaire I don't know where she is."_

 _"I'm sorry to hear that." Ray said gently, hanging his head a bit to stare at his own feet._

 _"Don't be." Kai's voice was a bit harsher than he intended it to be, causing Ray to look up at him with a puzzling look._

 _One of the last things Kai ever needed was someone else's pity, but seeing the way Ray's eyes gave off a sad expression at how he responded, he thought that maybe having Ray's sympathy would be alright._

 _"I mean… I still have my parents, you don't." Kai recovered, and a sheepish smile crossed Ray's lips._

 _"Guess you're right." Ray shrugged._

 _This was why the team had dubbed him the mother hen of the group, he was always so cautious of other people's feelings and the sad stories they told him. Either he'd console them or cheer them up with his hidden stash of chocolate, though he should have known better around Kai and now he felt a bit foolish to think that Kai would need, or want, either of those things._

 _"Well… Thanks for dinner again, I'm going to head to bed." Ray yawned, stretching his back out against the counter. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Kai." He waved at him lazily before turning on his heel and leaving the kitchen._

 _"Night." Kai whispered out after Ray had already left._

 _Normally when one of the team members said their goodnights to him, he wouldn't bother to respond. Now, he had to make sure he made a point in at least telling Ray goodnight back. Standing there in the kitchen by himself he felt more alone than he ever had before, he had spent more than half the days and nights with Ray by his side. His hand was still warm from where he had held Ray's, during their trip to the grocery store earlier and he missed the feeling. He always missed the feeling when Ray wasn't nearby, and that just added to the testament of wanting Ray to be his._

 _Flipping the switch for the lights in the kitchen he stalked to the bathroom, needing a shower before heading to bed. He passed Tyson and Max in the living room, their eyes bugged out by the TV and they didn't seem to have heard him go by. As long as they were up for training, he didn't care how long they stayed up for. Daichi had already passed out on the floor in front of them, Kenny and Hilary had returned to their homes and he knew they would be back at the crack of dawn._

 _Stepping into his room down the hall he retrieved a towel and his night clothes, Ray's bedroom door was closed and he figured he was already asleep and continued to the bathroom to his right. Just as he reached out for the handle of the bathroom door, it opened and Ray crashed right into his chest. Kai barely flinched and moved from the impact, but Ray had been sent back and onto the floor._

 _"Oh… Sorry about that." Ray rubbed at his backside, his hair was wrapped in a towel on his head while another was wrapped around his waist._

 _"You okay?" Kai shifted his towel to his other hand, and outstretched his now free one out to Ray to help him off the floor._

 _"Yeah." Ray nodded, getting to his feet after Kai helped pull him back up._

 _They stood there for a minute, hands still locked within the others. Kai did a quick look over Ray, hoping he hadn't noticed and it was like this was the first time actually seeing him. Of course, he had seen Ray without much clothing on before, they had shared hotel rooms before and had the awkward mishap of walking in on each other in the bathrooms from time to time. But now, being with him, it was like he had to study Ray's body._

 _He had fallen for Ray's exotic look when they first met, being part neko-jin was something Kai had found odd at first, but it grew on him and he found that part of Ray to be intoxicating. He was well built, much like himself, his tan skin was still a bit damp and his face looked a little red from the hot shower he had taken and Kai knew that this was his and he wasn't ever going to let him go._

 _"Kai?" Ray adverted his gaze, his face feeling flushed._

 _He was feeling a bit awkward with his boyfriend starring at him for so long, not that he didn't mind it now though, but it had gone on for a bit too long. Immediately Kai released Ray's hand and stepped to the side, allowing him room to leave the bathroom._

 _"See you in the morning." Ray called over his shoulder as he headed for his room, having awkwardly scooted himself past Kai and the doorframe to escape the bathroom._

 _Kai watched him leave until he disappeared behind his bedroom door, feeling a bit ashamed of himself he stomped inside the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. If it wasn't one thing, it was another, that nagged at him from the back of his mind. He just stood there and stared at his lover in nothing but a towel, still dripping wet. They had only been together for three months, and both had agreed sex wasn't something they were ready for. If they got caught up in a moment of passion, they stopped themselves before it went too far. Seeing Ray like that, caused Kai's head to spin and a hardness to grow between his legs._

 _With the nagging still in the back of his head he stepped into the shower, letting it run hot and then cold against his flustered skin. Rubbing his cheeks clean of his blue triangles, shampooing and conditioning his hair until he was satisfied that he was clean enough to step out. He dried off, leaving the towel over his hair as he dressed in dark sweats and brushed his teeth before retreating to his room. He could still hear the TV on down the hall, knowing it was well past ten at night now, though he didn't bother in telling the others to go to bed._

 _Flopping down on his stomach he pulled his pillow under his face, keeping his arms underneath it as he willed himself to sleep. Normally he wasn't a hard sleeper, training at the Abbey had made him so and he was always on high alert even when sleeping. Tossing and turning wasn't something he was comfortable with but he couldn't stop, no matter which way he laid on his bed he couldn't get comfortable enough to actually fall into what he considered a peaceful sleep. With the image of Ray stuck in his mind, he willed everything within him not to go down the hall and ravage his boyfriend into the morning._

* * *

 **Normal POV**

"Mr. Hiwatari?" The nurse's sweet voice stirred him awake, and he sat up from the uncomfortable position he had been laying on the three chairs in the waiting room.

Tala and the other's slowly coming to as they heard the nurses voice, each man stretching back and yawning as they woke up. Kai was already standing, his back straight as a pole as he looked at the nurse apprehensively.

"You can go see him now." She smiled sweetly, Kai released a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.

He motioned for the others to follow him, Tala coming right up behind him with Bryan, Spencer, and Ian trailing down the hall after them. The nurse indicated the door to them and turned on her heel, giving each man a smile as she passed them down the hall in the direction they had come from. Kai hesitated for a second before pulling on the handle, pushing the heavy wooden door open he held his breath again. As the five men piled into the small room, the sound of the heart monitor sounded like music to their ears and they each let out a sigh of relief. Kai walked over to the foot of the bed where Kain was laid up against it, his shoulder had been bandaged and stitched up, the doctors had wrapped his forehead with medical gauze, where he had hit it on the concrete floor of the cellar.

"You feeling alright?" Kai asked, eyes dancing nervously over Kain's body.

The IV tubs stuck into the back of his right hand, the heart monitor's cords attached to his left breast where his gown was hanging off him. Compare to him, Kai looked like shit. At first, he had refused the medical treatment, his adrenaline had yet to die out when they got to the hospital. Eventually he gave in and they stitched the cuts on his arms, luckily, he hadn't needed surgery to remove any of the bullets as they had passed through him and missed his vital organs. His eye had swollen shut, and his ear was covered in a white gauze and held in place with medical tape around his forehead.

Tala was a bit scuffed up, his clothes were ripped and torn with blood staining the material and his left arm was in a cast and sling across his chest. Bryan had a gun wound to his side, and he had been in and out of surgery quicker than Kain had been. Spencer came out looking like he hadn't even been in an all-out brawl, while Ian had a broken nose and split upper lip that had swelled over his bottom lip.

"Better than you guys." Kain chuckled out, after eyeing them all around him. Ian snickered at the comment, Tala smirked and Bryan looked ready to beat the kid, whereas Spencer had taken a seat in the chair in the corner of the room blocking them all out.

"Your kids got balls, Kai." Tala chuckled, stepping up to Kain's left. "It's good to see you're alright, they said you might have a slight concussion and the bullet fragments have been removed."

"Who were they?" Kain asked, looking from Tala to Kai.

"We're going to figure that out tomorrow, for now rest up." Tala said, gently patting the top of Kain's hair. "We'll stick around outside, make sure this place is up to par on their security." Tala said as he walked away, the other three following after him quietly.

"Do… Do you want me to stay?" Kai asked once the door had closed.

"Up to you." Kain shrugged slightly, barely able to move his left shoulder any higher than an inch.

Kai nodded and took the chair Spencer had previously occupied, resting his back against it. He would never admit it, but he had been scared. The fragments of the bullet had entered Kain's blood stream upon impact and the doctors were afraid it would be too late to save him. They pulled through after three hours of surgery and pumped him full of new blood, Kai had found out that they shared the same blood type because of this.

"Where'd you learn to shoot a gun?" Kai asked, resting his head against the wall behind him as he let his muscles relax.

"Dad taught me when I was eight, we don't live in the best of neighborhoods. Wasn't my first time shooting someone." Kai raised an eyebrow at his words, but couldn't think of anything to say about it.

"You know, it would have been nice if you had told me your password to your stupid phone before running off." Kain chuckled a bit as Kai frowned at him.

"You figured it out, what's it matter now?" Kai shrugged, wincing at the pain he caused himself.

"Yeah, after like, seven tries." Kain whined. "So… Why is it, what it is?" He raised his own slate colored eyebrow at Kai, a smirk playing on his lips. Kai seemed to pale at his question for a second, and shifted in his seat a bit.

"Just never changed it." Kai breathed out. "Get some rest." With that Kai closed his eyes, trying to fall back asleep in another uncomfortable position.

Kain chuckled again, rolling his eyes as he slipped down the bed and soon fell asleep.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

The entire time he had been in surgery my nerves were wrecked, if he died I didn't know what I'd tell Ray.

'Yeah, guess what. Our son hitchhiked all the way to Russia and found me, then he was shot and killed because I have enemies everywhere.'

Didn't think that would be the best way to reunite with my ex, so I was beyond relief when they told us he had recovered. Tala was right, this kid had balls for doing what he did last night. When he woke up he acted like it never even happened, he talked to Bryan and laughed with him about their phone call the night before, Bryan had apologized to me several times but I waved it off. I hadn't told them about him, Tala was the only one who knew before the events of last night.

I thought he'd be nervous coming back to the house with me, it had been cleaned and the bodies had been taken away but I thought it'd still be a pretty traumatic experience on him coming back. He sauntered into the house with a smile plastered to his face, looking as if he owned the place. Part of me wondered why he didn't seem so upset about it, but I decided not to ask him. He probably told me, and I had already forgotten or wasn't listening to him.

The entire day we ran through the security footage of the house, whoever these people were knew where they were going and what they were doing. Most of them had avoided the cameras, and it wasn't till later in the day did we find the van they had drove in, they had parked it in the woods at the back of the house. A few of the cameras had been taken out, and the footage before they shot the camera down didn't tell us anything.

"How's that detective work coming along?" Kain asked as he stepped into the study, chewing on an apple, even though I had told him not to come in.

"What are you doing?" I asked, it was too painful to force a glare or any other facial expression at the moment.

"Got bored. Need any help?" He came up behind me, glancing over my shoulder.

"No." I groaned and rolled my eyes, to my right Tala snickered and I hit his good arm.

"Did you run the plates on the van?"

"Yes…" I hissed out, him standing over me was making my muscles tense.

"Hn… Well, here. I found this under the floor boards." He plopped down a piece of paper on the desk in front of me.

Tala snatched it up before I could, unfolding it and his eyes went wide. We had scoured that damn van for five hours, we found nothing of use to us and somehow this kid was able to find something. After studying the paper Tala slid it back on the desk in front of me, it was a rough sketch of the floor plan to my house. There were red dots that indicated where the security cameras were hidden, a circle was drawn around my room and the location of their entry point in a small X.

"I have no records of my floor plans, that means someone who has been in my home before drew this from memory." I explained, it was mainly meant to be directed at Tala.

"So, run a few scans on the people who have been here." Kain offered and I rolled my eyes at that.

"That would take us months to do, with how many guys Kai brings here." Tala snickered, I turned to Kain to see his reaction to this news. Whether he thought anything of it or not, it didn't show on his face and he bit down into his apple.

"Okay, so… Since the lead marks aren't faded, we can safely assume that this drawing is less than a month or two old. Unless you had guys here every day of the week, then we should be able to lower our number of suspects." Both Tala and I raised our eyebrows at him, but it wasn't in a mocking way, we were both actually quite stunned at his words.

It wasn't something I would have known, nor Tala as we weren't that big on the arts. I think he mentioned to me that he took art class, so that must have been why he knew this. I sat back into the chair, thinking of all the men I had brought over the past two months. I lost count at around twelve, as I had also brought some back more than once.

"I hope you wrap it good." Kain mumbled, after having to endure the few moments of silence as I tried to think. Tala burst out laughing, having to walk away before I hit his bad arm.

"Are we sure he's Ray's kid, where'd he get this cocky attitude from? Surely not from the cat. Oh god… Oh… This is great Kai, we need to keep him." Tala laughed, clutching his stomach as he walked around in his fit.

"Will you two shut up!" I barked, though Tala ignored me and now Kain was laughing behind me.

Tuning them out I grabbed for a pen and paper, having lost my train of thought I started to write down a list. I could feel Kain lean closer over my shoulder and I covered the paper with my hands as I had already written out a substantial amount of names down.

"Will you get out of here before I send you back to the hospital!"

He held his hands up defensively and stepped back, going over to where Tala was resting on the couch after his laughing fit had stopped. Ignoring their snickering and idle chatter I went back to the paper, marking the names with X's for each time I had brought one to my house. I never asked what they did as for their careers, always meeting them in high end bars, so I knew they were wealthy enough to pull this sort of thing off. I only ever gave them my first name, as did they, so not having any last names was going to make this harder. I never kept their numbers in my phone, so calling them wouldn't help.

After jotting down the names, I took a look at the paper. One name was sticking out more than the others with four X's marked next to it, but no image of the man's face was coming to mind. The name itself didn't even sound familiar, getting more frustrated I slammed the pen down on the desk, the other two snapping their attention to me.

"This isn't going to work." I growled out, flipping the paper over.

I had thousands of enemies, it could have been any of them. Whether they were the head of a rivaling company, or someone who just got paid to sleep with me and scope out my home.

"You know what you should do?" Kain piped up and I groaned.

"No, please do tell." I sneered.

"You should make a public announcement that you were attacked." Tala and I gave him questioning looks, this time our eyebrows raised in a mocking matter.

"If the guy who went after you sees you still alive, he'll more than likely contact you and try to come back here to find better blind spots for the next attack, maybe up the amount of men to come and do the job for him."

"That… That's actually not a bad idea. We normally never do that, but that's a brilliant idea." Tala said, and I could tell by the way he was looking at Kain that his words were genuine.

"Should make it a worldwide broadcast, just in case you have enemies abroad." Kain finished, and looked to me with hopeful eyes.

I have to admit; the kid was smart and it was a good plan. Not only would it possibly draw out the man behind the attacks, but it would show the others that I'm not an easy man to take out. I nodded to him, letting him know I approved of his idea and he smiled wide at me, eyes gleaming with excitement. It was like I had just bought him a new dog or toy that he wanted badly.

"I can get it set up by Thursday, that way you won't miss your flight." Tala piped up, standing up from the couch. "We should all be in the interview, Kain included."

"That would just be putting him in more danger, no." For some reason that thought made me shudder.

"Not with those badass battle wounds, plus, we could hide his hair or have him wear sun glasses so he doesn't look exactly like you. He deserves to be seen, he'll look like another one of your men who shouldn't be messed with." Kain nodded feverishly at Tala's words, his head bobbing up and down I got whiplash just watching him.

"Alright, alright." I huffed, and he stopped. Rubbing the back of my own neck and I let out a sigh before speaking, making sure I had both of their attention. "Get this done by Tuesday, the sooner the better. I can't risk another surprise attack with him still here, or them trying to come after us when we leave. If they see it now, it'll help propel this whole thing before we have to leave." Tala nodded and started out of the room, he only had two days to get it done and he never wasted time in getting things done.

Kain stood from the couch, having finished his apple he turned to leave.

"Hey." I called to him and he stopped, shifting around so he faced me again. "Good job, kid." He smiled at me again, this time both fangs popping under his upper lip.

For a second, staring at him, my heart hurt. I never knew this kid his entire life, but it was like he held onto every word I spoke, whether it was me scolding him or praising him, which had just become a new occurrence. He saved my life and acted as if it was no big deal, he was smarter than what I had originally been giving him credit for; Ray did an excellent job at raising him. That thought caused another pain to shoot me in the heart; why did Ray choose to parent himself alone? Why did he run off and not tell me? I may have only known Kain for three days, but we had clicked in our own way, and I could tell he wouldn't have come out any different than if he had been raised by the both of us.

The sooner we got to China, the sooner I'd get my answers. For the first time thinking about the whole trip, I felt nervous. Would I really be prepared to hear Ray's reasoning once we got there? When I left, would I be allowed to see Kain; my son?


	4. Kamikaze Love

**Author's note:  
**

 **Alcohol use, underage drinking. All that good stuff.**

 **Don't own beyblade, or it's characters. I do own Kain, as he was my own creation and any other OC's that might come into play later on.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _"You're up early." Kai commented, heading straight for the coffee machine as it finished dripping the last bit into the pot._

 _"I actually didn't sleep too well last night." Ray said over his shoulder, still facing the stove._

 _"You too huh?" Kai poured the coffee into a mug, sipping at it gingerly as he settled against the counter._

 _"Had too many night mares." Ray shrugged, plucking the kettle off the burner as it began to steam._

 _"That's what you get for eating chocolate before bed."_

 _Ray bristled at the comment, turning red in the face and he chuckled guiltily as he poured the hot water over the tea bag in his mug. Setting the kettle on a pot holder before hoisting himself up on the countertop, blowing over the rim of his hot tea._

 _"That reminds me, I'm running low. Wanna come with me to the candy store later?"_

 _Kai looked at his watch for a second then back towards the living room, already his plans for the day were going down the drain. His belated birthday party had run into the late hours of the night, and the other three would be asleep till noon. He turned 17 a month ago, but had refused to have any sort of celebration due to a regional tournament. He promised the guys that if they had won, he'd allowed them to throw him a party. It wasn't really a surprise that they had won, but he still didn't like the idea of having a party. Now the others were knocked out cold, more than likely with hangovers themselves._

 _He shrugged his shoulders and finished his coffee quietly, Ray watching his every move without even touching his tea._

 _"You don't have too." Ray said a bit too quickly, getting a raised brow in response. "I'm just saying… I know sweets aren't really your thing, and we have training to do, but with those three zonked out I figured it wouldn't hurt to leave them for a bit."_

 _Kai nodded to him, stepping up beside him and rinsing his mug out before setting it on the counter to be fully cleaned later._

 _"What about Kenny and Hilary?" Kai asked, as if just realizing they weren't there yet._

 _"Kenny called me a bit ago, said he's got a hangover. Hilary has a test exam she has to study for, she sent that in a text." Ray explained, remembering the mug in his hand he started to drink his tea._

 _"What time did you want to go?" Kai asked._

 _"Um… Probably should go before the others wake up, that way we don't have to bring them along." Ray chuckled and Kai liked the idea of that, with a slight nod of the head he started out of the kitchen._

 _Ray grabbed hold of his wrist gently, Kai stopped his steps, only have taken two, and gave Ray a questioning look. Before Kai could speak Ray had lent across the small space between them, pecking Kai's lips with his own quickly before pulling away. Enjoying the small exchange Kai stepped closer, pulling Ray's legs around his waist as he settled between them. Their tongues met in Ray's mouth, Kai's hands drawing up Ray's shirt as his fingers brushed along his abs. Placing a hand on Kai's chest, the touches stopped and Kai pulled back._

 _"Should probably take this elsewhere." Ray said with a grin, and Kai nodded._

 _Ray squeaked as Kai pulled him off the counter top, holding his hands firm on his legs as he carried him through the kitchen and living room to their now shared room. Ray having moved in after their sixth month together, when things got too heated between them and they had delved into their passions further, on top of the kitchen table where the others walked in on them. The others never let it them live it down, even though that was a year ago._

 _Kicking the door open and then closed behind them, Kai stalked over to the bed and dropped Ray down on it and crawled over him. Ray's fingers tangled in the back of Kai's hair as he kissed down his face and neck, nipping at his jaw line and running his hands up and down Ray's sides. Shivering at the touch Ray purred, throwing his head back as he let Kai take full control. /_

 _"You ready? Figured we could stop somewhere and grab some breakfast." Ray was too quiet for his own good, Kai had hardly heard him walk up next to him._

 _"What'd you have in mind?" Kai turned to him as he fixed his shirt over his head, Ray having returned from a shower after their love making._

 _"Whatever you want, I suppose." Ray said as he rung out the rest of the water from his hair._

 _"There's a café not too far from here." He held out his hand for Ray, who took it and was pulled into another kiss before Kai led him out of the bedroom._

 _Dominate by nature, Kai lead the other to a small café he had come across his second year of being with the Bladebreakers. Ray seemed to have relaxed beside him, every now and then squeezing his hand as he could see Kai glare at whoever shot them disapproving looks as they stood in line to order. They reached the counter and ordered, Kai paid for their breakfast while Ray found them a seat outside in order to enjoy the early winter air._

 _Kai had returned with a tray, setting it down on the table before he took a seat in front of Ray at the small round iron table. The chairs weren't the most comfortable, and his back was still a bit sore from not having slept at all and then their exchange in the bedroom._

 _"Why weren't you able to sleep?" Ray asked, finishing his muffin and washing it down with a cup of tea. Hoping he hadn't over stepped again, he tried to read Kai's expression._

 _Kai was in thought for a moment, he truly didn't know why he hadn't slept last night, so he didn't really have an answer. He wasn't as drunk as the others were, he and Ray had slipped off and enjoyed their own little after party and he slept for an hour before waking up and unable to fall back asleep. If he shrugged and didn't answer, he figured Ray would take that as him not wanting to tell him. He sighed and sat his cup of coffee down, and rested against the back of the chair._

 _"Don't really know. I just couldn't." Ray nodded, a smile coming to his lips; thankful that Kai had actually responded. "You said you had nightmares, want to talk about it?"_

 _"Nah, they weren't that important." Ray waved his hand, as if waving Kai's words away. "You were right, I shouldn't eat chocolate before bed." Ray chuckled at his own words._

 _The rest of their meal they ate and drank in silence, Kai watching people go by; daring someone to say something. Nobody did, and he figured it was because they looked like they were just friends enjoying breakfast together. Ray cleared the table, coming back and taking Kai's hand on instinct and nuzzled a bit closer to him where their shoulders touched as they walked to the candy store._

 _It would have been a pleasant trip, if it wasn't for the older couple who seemed to put a damper on Ray's mood. Having scoffed and saying some rather unimportant and rude comments to the two boys, he had pulled his hand out of Kai's grasp, much to Kai's inner protests. Though even his glare couldn't make the older couple shut up, and they ended up leaving without purchasing anything. Ray walked next to Kai, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he watched his feet._

 _"You shouldn't concern yourself with what others have to say. It's not their business." Kai said, not able to take the look of pain on Ray's face._

 _"It doesn't bother you?" Ray asked, looking up at Kai for the first time since they had left the candy store._

 _"Why should it?"_

 _"I guess it shouldn't, but I'm not you. What people say, to me and about me, it gets under my skin. I know it shouldn't, but it does." Ray breathed out, hanging his head again._

 _"Are you embarrassed because it's me, or because of who you are?" Kai asked, and for a second he sounded hurt._

 _"I'm not embarrassed because it's you, I wanted this. It's not because I'm gay, it's just because this is my first time actually showing who I am. I already knew it wasn't going to be easy, but words can still hurt." Ray explained, trying to make his point he grabbed Kai's upper arm. "I love you, that won't change because of what people say to me, to us. Much like how you had to figure out your feelings, I have to figure out how to deal with the things they say."_

 _Kai nodded, Ray was right. It hadn't happened over night, at times Kai still became reclusive and pushed him away, but over the past year he was getting better at showing his affections for Ray; in private and in the open._

 _"We should just go home. The others should be awake now." Ray huffed, kicking at the pavement of the sidewalk and started off ahead of Kai._

 _The walk home was marred by an uncomfortable silence, they kept apart from each other the entire time. Kai didn't like the distance Ray was keeping from him now, but he didn't want to push the other. If he had to work on his feelings, then Ray needed to work on his self-confidence. He knew Ray had it, he had seen it during his bey battles. So, Kai wondered where that kind of fire had gone too. He wasn't used to seeing Ray like this, and he hated it._

* * *

 **Normal POV**

"Yes Mariah, I did call the local police. No, they weren't any help either." Ray sighed, pacing the space of his kitchen with the phone to his ear.

"Are you sure he's just not staying at some friends and lost track of time?" Mariah sounded to hopeful and Ray rolled his eyes.

"Six days is a bit of a stretch to think that." Ray sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"He didn't take his phone?"

"No, but he took his bank cards, and I don't know his information to access it and the banks won't hand me the papers. The cops keep playing it off as just an angsty teen running off for a bit, and they keep telling me he'll be back sooner or later." Ray sighed, finally resting his aching nerves as he settled into the couch, turning the TV on.

"Well, if he shows up here I'll let you know. I hope something comes up soon Ray." With that Mariah hung up.

Ray sighed, dropping the arm that held his phone to his side on the couch. He clicked through the different channels blindly, his feet were sore from working his double shift and it didn't help that he was panicking over the disappearance of his son like a mad man. Finding nothing interesting on any of the channels he stopped on a news station, resting into the couch as he kicked off his shoes.

"For our top story today, billionaire Hiwatari Kai of Hiwatari enterprises has just survived a vicious attack this past Saturday. Already to be looking like he is recovering, along with his fellow employees who were also in the attack, spoke out to the public for the first time earlier today."

Ray sat up a bit from the couch, his heart stopped and flipped several times. He had seen different shows and news reports on Kai's business and how he had shot high in the ranks of the military industry, though he would never have thought he'd be attacked. The news anchors words started to fall on deaf ears as the camera setting changed, showing the front of what Ray to believe was Kai's home. He stood in front of a small podium, the were microphones sticking out of the top of it. Peoples hands could be seen holding phones and other recording devices as Kai was speaking, Ray couldn't understand him as he was speaking Russian.

The camera zoomed away from the close up of Kai's face, and Ray had taken notice of the bruising and cuts on his face, there was a light bruise on his eye, but as the camera zoomed away from him it became less noticeable. Then the camera panned, starting from the left and slowly going to the right. Ian stood there, he looked fine. Spencer was next and he looked just as well. Bryan stood beside him, and Ray slightly shudder upon seeing him, but he too looked no worse for wear. Kai came back into focus on the camera, on his other side stood Tala. His arm was in a cast and held close to his chest in a sling, aside from Kai he was the only one sporting any visible injuries. The camera continued to pan over, landing and stopping on a new face beside Tala.

He was a young man, wearing a ball cap with dark sunglasses on that covered his eyes. Raven hair stuck out from the rim of the ball cap and he too looked fine, though as Kai switched from speaking Russian to English, Ray's heart almost dropped.

"This boy here saved my life, and so I'd like to welcome him to Hiwatari Enterprises as our newest member of security, Kain Hǔ." There was a round of applause as the boy stepped forward.

Ray inched closer to the TV screen, looking harder as the camera zoomed in on the teens face. He kept his sunglasses and ball cap on, but when he spoke Ray knew. The last name Kai had said was a fake one, more than likely to hide the fact that Kain was Kai's son, since Ray had given him Kai's last name.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here and being a part of this amazing company." Kain's words fell out of range as Ray had bounded out of the living room and into his bedroom.

Throwing open his laptop he sat impatiently for it to turn on, quickly redialing Mariah's number on his phone and tapped his nails on the edge of his laptop.

"Hi Ray." She said sweetly.

"HE'S IN FUCKING RUSSIA!" Ray yelled out, unable to contain his nerves.

"What? What would he be doing there? Did he finally call you?"

"No, I saw him on the news. He found him Mariah, he found Kai…" Ray bit his bottom lip hard, drawing blood.

Mariah gasped into the phone, and paused as she tried to still her breathing as Ray could faintly hear her TV playing the same news broadcast he had been watching.

"Oh god Ray, this is awful…"

"Can you help me get a ticket out there? I don't have nearly enough right now, they cut my hours last week." Ray sighed, his computer screen coming to life and he jabbed in his password.

"Of course Ray, I'll send it to you now. Are you going to be able to get a flight today?"

"I'm looking now." Ray said, his arms were beginning to tremble as he typed in tickets from Shanghai to Moscow in the search bar.

His eyes danced over the page and lists of flights, landing one listing that would be leaving in two hours and he sighed a breath of relief.

"I found one, it leaves in two hours." Ray clicked on the button to purchase the ticket, giving Mariah the full price so she could send it to him. His phone vibrated against his cheek, letting him know he received the money.

"Be careful Ray, call me when you get there and get him back." She hung up once more, letting Ray do what he needed in order to leave.

After purchasing the ticket, he ran about his room grabbing a small suitcase and stuffing it with any piece of clothing he could find, whether it was dirty or not; he didn't care. His phone beeped on the bed, where he had left it, as a text came through confirming his ticket. Grabbing the phone off the bed he rushed out of the room, the broadcast was over and the news anchors were going on about sports until he turned the TV off. Making sure the other appliances and electronics were off, taking Kain's phone from his room, he rushed out the front door.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

"Great job kid, you did an amazing job out there yesterday." Tala cheered, uncorking the bottle of wine he had been fighting with till it popped out, the light brown liquid spilling out the top of it and onto his hand and floor.

"Just hopefully they take the bait." Kain said sheepishly, getting a hard clap on his back from Bryan, who already had one too many drinks.

"After that lil speech of yours, there's no doubt about it." Tala said happily, pouring the wine into his glass and spilling, as he was having a hard time using one hand.

"You looked bad ass up there." Bryan complimented, going over to Tala to held him pour the wine.

Bryan poured another glass, handing it to Kain who looked over at Kai sitting in the corner of the room. For a second they just stared at each other, till Kai nodded his go-ahead. With a grin Kain chucked the wine down, Bryan hollering in a drunken stupor at the teen downing his wine.

"Is he always like this?" Kain chuckled.

"You haven't seen nothing yet. Kai, go get the good stuff." Tala called, sipping his wine before deciding that they needed something stronger.

"He's fifteen…" Kai said, giving Tala a pointed stare.

"Not like you weren't knocking them back in the day, c'mon, let the kid live a little. He took a bullet for you." Bryan commented, Kai rolled his eyes and pushed himself from the chair he was sitting in to retrieve the harder liquor from the study.

Tala went over to the stereo, cranking up the volume higher as Kai came back with the other drinks. Tala licked his lips upon seeing the full bottles Kai brought in, tugging Kain along with him as Kai placed the bottles on the coffee table, along with a few cups and shot glasses. Bryan joined them around the table, Tala pulling Kai down beside him before he had a chance to walk away.

Bryan poured them each a shot, they held the small glasses to their lips eyeing each other before they each chucked back their head and swallowed. Kain's hand came crashing on the table, sputtering and choking from the burning in his throat and on his tongue. Tala and Bryan erupted in a fit of laughs, Tala's hand beating down on Kain's back to help his coughing fit. Kai looked at him from across the coffee table, a smirk playing on his lips.

"C'mon, a real Hiwatari would take it like a man." Bryan said as he poured them each another round.

Same as before they chucked back, Kain not wanting to be out done followed suit. With each new drink the burning was becoming easier to bear, he chucked back more than he could count and his head was swimming and his stomach was warm. Bryan had given up around his seventh shot, Tala bowing out after his twelfth shot and he and Bryan left the coffee table to occupy one of the other rooms, turning the stereo off as the noise was starting to grate on their nerves.

Opening another bottle Kai poured Kain and himself their fourteenth shot, tapping the rims of the cups together, hazed crimson locked onto fiery crimson, they chucked their heads back. Kain could feel his body sway, even though he wasn't standing and he wasn't sure how many Kai's there were as his vision was coming in and out in a fuzz of colors.

"You won't win." Kai smirked, as Kain held out his shot glass for another round.

"You… You don't know that… Old man." Kain hiccupped, a sloppy grin coming to his lips as Kai poured the alcohol into his awaiting glass.

"After this one… You should go to bed… It's three… Three in the morning." Kai held his cup out to Kain's, who nodded though he didn't know what he was nodding to.

Chucking back another glass Kain's body fell backward after slamming his shot glass hard on the top of the coffee table, shattering across the surface of the table. Kai bent over laughing, watching Kain groan and roll on his stomach. For good measure Kai downed another shot before helping Kain to his feet.

"See… I won." Kain grinned as he leaned against Kai's side, his arm draped over his neck as he tried to steady his legs.

"No, you didn't. I took another one before getting you… Up." Kai laughed as Kain pouted at him, making sure that they were both steady enough to start walking.

"You… You, cheater." Kain pouted more, allowing Kai to drag him out of the living room.

As they rounded the corner of the living room, stumbling into each other's legs and falling into the walls a loud knock came at the door beside them. Kain's laughter subsided, as Kai stared pointedly at the door. They both stared for a second, unsure if what they heard was real or not. Another knock sounded, harder and faster this time.

"The hell?" Kai mumbled, unable to let go of Kain he dragged him over to the door and fumbled with the locks.

"Shittttt." Kain chuckled, watching Kai's fingers against the locks and then the door handle.

Kai pulled them back as he pulled the door open, the cold air hitting and stinging their flushed cheeks. Blinking a few times to adjust from the wind that hit them, Kai stumbled back as his eyesight focused more. His grip on Kain releasing and he fell to the ground, though he was too drunk to care and laughed until he looked up.

"Oi! Hey dad!"

* * *

 **Author's note 2:  
**

 **This is where I leave you for now, since it's 5 in the morning where I am.**

 **Ray's in the picture now, yay!**

 **Thanks to those who have already been checking this fic out, hope it's not too disappointing.**

 **If ya like what ya see, leave me a review, I do enjoy them.**


	5. Carnival of Rust

**Author's Note:**

 **First off, thank you** **WheresWilson for your review, I couldn't directly respond to your review. So hopefully you'll come back and see this, it means a lot to me when someone likes what I've written and takes the time to write to me about it. I do try to make a point in keeping their characters as they were in the series, I don't mind others changing it up, but for me I prefer them the way they are.  
**

 **As you've prolly noticed, there's a different image for this story. That is Kain, what he looks like depicted in this story. (Aside from the head band and scarf, that was just something I added.) I drew it, my deviantart account is SketChesz, but I don't really have fanart on there, but you'd get a better look at the picture.**

 **I told myself I was going to work of Forsaken today... I lied to myself, this story just keeps coming to me and I'm actually a bit stuck on Forsaken for the moment, but I promise to get it done sooner than later.**

 **Warnings: Violence, Blood, Sex.**

 **You don't have to, but to add a bit more emotion behind the sex scene, I recommend looking up Carnival of Rust by Poets of the Fall. I don't own the song, but I felt it fit the scene pretty well.**

 **Also, if you're interested, I found the song through an amv. I recommend checking it out too, just because it was done so well. The title of the video on youtube is Carnival of Rust- The "KARETA-Triangle"**

 **So, that's it for now. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _Ray stood by the stove, a slight hum mixed with a purr as he flipped the pancake over on the skillet. The others weren't up yet, he was alone with just with the stove light on above him. Unable to sleep any more, he had untangled himself from Kai's warmth and started breakfast, even though it was five in the morning. He needed something to busy his hands with, having woken from another nightmare he feared going back to sleep._

 _As he shifted on his feet, the paper in his pocket poked his thigh, reminding him of its presence. He shifted again until he could no longer feel the paper, unable to find it within himself to throw it away, so he kept it in his pocket since the day he received it; less than four months ago. Nobody was the wiser, it was his secret, his burden, to carry this on himself._

 _Letting his mind wander as he stacked the fully cooked pancake on the others, he mused about his upcoming birthday. He'd be turning seventeen in roughly seven days, and with those thoughts in his mind his mood lifted. The paper the last thing on his mind, pouring the remaining pancake batter into the skillet. Lost in his thoughts he hadn't heard the soft padding of footsteps coming up behind him, though the smell gave the intruder away and when Kai wrapped his arms around his waist he didn't jump._

 _"It's five in the morning, you know the others aren't going to be up right now." Kai murmured in the back of Ray's head, burying his face in the soft raven locks._

 _"Just couldn't go back to sleep." Ray sighed, trying to push away his nightmares._

 _"You're still having nightmares?" Kai pulled back a bit, even though Ray couldn't see him he knew Kai looked worried._

 _"Yeah… Don't worry about it though." Ray shrugged, the warmth that had appeared on his back was now gone as Kai had pulled away to start the coffee machine._

 _The machine hissed alive, the strong aroma of the coffee filling the small space of the kitchen and Ray's nose turned up. His stomach churned, and he swallowed hard as his mouth began to water without reason. Before he knew it, bile found its way up his throat and he spun around to the sink and threw up the tea he had drunk only a few minutes ago._

 _"Ray?" Kai rushed over the small distance between them, pulling Ray's bangs out of his face as his body convulsed harder as his stomach was now empty. "It's alright." Kai coaxed, rubbing his hand in circles on Ray's back between his shoulder blades._

 _Ray's body trembled as his stomach was still violently churning, trying to force anything else up it could manage. A minute passed before his gagging fit subsided, and he washed his mouth out under the faucet's water, rinsing the bile down the drain and splashing his face with the cold water._

 _"You should see a doctor, the stress from not properly sleeping isn't doing you any good." Kai commented as Ray straightened himself against the counter in front of the sink, his limbs slightly trembling, and his face had paled._

 _"It's alright, I'll be fine." Ray breathed out, his throat sore from his stomach acid._

 _Kai eyed him skeptically, with a sigh he turned around. He knew arguing with Ray would be pointless, he could be stubborn at times and sometimes more than himself. Going back over to the coffee pot with a mug, Ray watched him, and his stomach turned again at the sight of the coffee as Kai poured it into his mug. The smell seemingly growing stronger around him and he bolted out of the kitchen, a hand clamping over his mouth to keep his stomach contents from spilling out. /_

 _Ray's hand trembled as he fumbled with the foil packet, part of him was wondering why he was even doing this but he had to know. He knew it was possible, and the dates from his last heat lined up perfectly. Unable to control his stomach any more for the past two days, he only hoped Kai was right and his body was too stressed from not sleeping well the past month._

 _The packet tore open and he pulled out the white stick with a blue cap on the end, his heart pounding in his head as he stared at in his hands. Glancing back at the instructions that sat on the sink's counter, he uncapped the test and did what he needed to. Covering the test up with the blue cap, he laid it out flat on the counter, washing his hands before he stepped back. Golden eyes trembled as he watched the digital hour glass spin over and over as it processed the results, every second that passed seemed an eternity._

 _Ray closed his eyes, unable to look at it anymore and he counted to sixty in his head before slowly opening one eye to peak at the small screen on the test. His heart dropped, and both his pupils sunk back as his mouth fell open. Snatching the test up with a shaking hand, he pulled it closer reading the one word he had hoped to never have seen; PREGNANT._

 _"Oh god… No… No…" Tears welled in his eyes, dropping the stick to the floor as he fell to his knees._

 _Nobody was home at the time, so no one came looking for him as he had kept himself locked in the bathroom for the past hour. Tear stains had dried on his cheeks, his throat burned from having thrown up three times in the hour that had passed. His head felt heavy and he had a headache from crying for so long, having used up his reservoir of tears, he wiped his eyes as he could hear the others coming into the house. Quickly he gathered the foil and the test, stuffing it in the foil and back into the box along with the instructions pamphlet._

 _Luckily, he was wearing a pair of pants with deep pockets and he shoved the box into his pocket, his fingers brushed the paper he always kept beside him. A cold shiver ran down his spine, the words on the paper flitting through his head and he paled. Once again, he made a vow to himself, he would do this alone; he had to. /_

 _"You should have the money in a minute… Ray, are you sure you want to do this?" Mariah asked, and Ray nodded even though she couldn't see him._

 _"Yeah… I'm sure Mariah… Thanks." Ray said through a shaky breath, trying to still his nerves._

 _After having found out he was pregnant the day before, he had been different towards the others. Often snapping at them for mundane things, Kai gave them the same explanation that he wasn't sleeping good. Part of that was true, the other half was that he had decided he was leaving them all. His heart had shattered when he had made the decision, but he knew he couldn't back out; not now._

 _"You're positive you can't come here? We'll keep you safe, I promise." Mariah's calm and sweet voice soothed him, but only slightly._

 _With his other hand in his pocket he gave the paper a squeeze, eyes narrowing at the wall in front of him as he bit his bottom lip. Safe? As long as he was pregnant with Kai's child, no one was safe._

 _"I'm sure, I can't risk it. I'll let you know when I get there, I have to go now and get my things packed, my taxi should be here in three hours." He didn't bother waiting for her reply, he couldn't waste any more time by pushing the inventible away._

 _Slowly he stood, glancing around the room he and Kai had shared for the past year, taking it all in and logging it away in his mental picture album. He would miss this, miss his friends; miss Kai. He would have to get on his own two feet, be a single parent without anyone's knowledge, aside from Mariah, and endure the heartbreak he was about to inflict on everyone. He could only hope they would forgive him, after all he was doing this for their safety._

 _He had prepared his speech in his head, reciting it over and over again until he had it memorized. Putting on a brave front after packing his things, he stepped out of his room. The mask had fallen, his speech left him, and he stumbled around his words as he told the others he was leaving. Tyson got angry and was yelling, tears were running down the world champions face as he begged Ray to stay. Hilary cried quietly, as Max tried to pry more information about why he was leaving. Kenny and Daichi didn't say anything, but he could see the hurt in their faces._

 _The others may have not noticed, but he did, Kai didn't say anything in front of the others. Ray's heart sunk when he heard the front door close, after having retreated from the living room to gather his bags. He couldn't stomach looking at him, he didn't want to see the hurt on the face of the man he loved. Instead he put up another false front, lying through his teeth and didn't look back once as he was driven off to the airport. He would never see his lover again, and his heart shattered as he cried all the way to the airport._

* * *

 **Normal POV**

"Oi! Hey dad!" Kain called from his spot on the floor, in his drunken haze he didn't feel the tension that had filled the air around his fathers.

Ray glanced down from Kai to his son, taking in his appearance and then quickly snapping his attention back to Kai. The alcohol within Kai's system was dulling his senses and his mind, he could see Ray fuming with anger but had no words to say. Only stepping back as Ray pushed past him without a word, kneeling down beside Kain who wore a sloppy smile on his lips as he could see his dad before his eyes.

"Get up Kain." Ray commanded, pulling on Kain's arm but the boy was too heavy for him to lift.

"Here." Kai huffed, trying to still his erratic heart as he stepped towards them.

"Don't touch my son!" Ray bit back as Kai had bent down and reached for Kain's other arm, Ray's pupils had turned to slits and he bore his fangs at Kai.

Kai withdrew his arm quickly and stepped back, watching Ray struggling to lift Kain to his feet. Kain's legs felt like lead and he leaned against his dad with more force than Ray could handle, and they stumbled over each other's legs.

"Let me help." Kai sighed out, watching the two struggling to stand again.

"You've done enough!" Ray hissed, finally gathering his footing. "Just show me where his room is."

Kai nodded and started for the stairs, not looking back as Ray followed behind him. Kain slumped against his dad as he was pulled up the stairs, they faltered once and almost fell back down the stairs. Thankfully for Ray's cat-like grace he saved them from doing so, pausing to make sure he had regained his footing before continuing up the stairs behind Kai.

"You're going to have a horrible head ache tomorrow." Ray sighed, brushing back Kain's bangs as he laid on the bed, having passed out the second his head hit the pillow.

Kai had stayed back in the door way, arms crossed over his chest as he had watched Ray undress Kain and tuck him into bed like he was a toddler. He had placed a waste basket by the side of the bed, before leaving the room. Outside in the hall the two locked eyes, Ray's anger returning ten-fold as he stared into Kai's fiery crimson eyes.

"We need to talk." Kai's tone was dark and before Ray could respond he grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him back down the stairs to his room.

"I'd rather we talked somewhere that doesn't include a bed." Ray sneered, having stayed standing by the door once they had entered Kai's room.

"I'd rather fuck Ian than you." Kai sneered back, his eyes narrowing as he stood across the room from Ray.

"Like wise." Ray narrowed his own eyes, having to look slightly upwards to meet Kai's gaze.

A brief silence passed over them, the tension in the air thickening.

"Care to tell me then?" Kai shifted where he stood, crossing his arms over his chest.

"If I had wanted you to know, you would have known."

"Why the hell are you doing this?!" Kai yelled, it wasn't like Ray to be this cold hearted, but that was the Ray he knew fifteen years ago.

"Me?! It's not like I wanted him to find you, why didn't you send him back? Do you know how scared I've been this past week? You could have had him call me, or something!" Ray yelled back, his pupils slitting once more as he stepped forward pointing to his chest as he yelled.

"We were coming back, then we were attacked. I'm guessing you saw the broadcast and that's why you're here. Don't blame me for not having him call you, he's old enough to make that decision."

"He's fifteen Kai, fifteen! Did you forget that when you gave him alcohol poisoning?" Ray shrieked back.

"He said you let him drink at home." Kai shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.

"I do no such thing! I didn't raise him to be like that!" Ray inched another step closer.

"I don't give a damn what you do or don't allow in _your_ house, right now he's in mine." Kai narrowed his eyes again, stiffening his back.

"God Kai, you're fucking impossible." Ray growled out between clenched teeth.

"ME?! You're the one that ran off pregnant, you didn't bother telling me shit! You're the one that's impossible, not me!" Kai bellowed out, his nails digging into the palms of his hands as he willed himself not to lash out violently at Ray.

"Are you expecting an apology or something?"

It came without warning, Ray hadn't even noticed Kai stepping closer and he had barely dodged the fist that was directed at his face. Ducking backwards where he flipped around, landing back on his feet closer to the door in a crouch. Kai advanced on him again, his fist grazing Ray's left cheek as he tried to roll out of the way. His jaw was already pounding with pain and he could taste fresh blood in his mouth, standing upright as Kai whirled around on him again.

Blocking another punch to his face, Ray pushed Kai's fist down from him and sent the palm of his right hand up into Kai's chin causing Kai's head to jerk upwards and stumbled back, his teeth clacking together from the hit. He regained his footing and drew his arm back, throwing a ballistic punch at Ray's chest that he couldn't block or avoid. Ray's body tensed as he embraced for the impact, his back and head knocked against the wall behind him and he yelped out in pain. His chest felt like it was on fire, and he coughed trying to catch his breath as more blood seeped down the corner of his lips.

He waited against the wall, making himself look like he was too weak to strike back as he knew Kai would approach him again. Two steps away from him, Ray lashed out with the back of his arm, knocking Kai across his face with a loud smacking noise as skin hit skin. The force from the blow caused Kai's own head to hit the wall beside him, splitting his lip, blood running down his chin as a dark bruise was already making itself known on his pale skin. A smirk crossed his lips as his eyes locked back onto Ray's, and Ray greeted him with his own smirk, both fangs sticking out from his upper bloodied lip.

Catching the next fist in his hands, Ray twisted Kai's hand backwards and swiped his leg out, knocking Kai onto the floor on his back. With Ray still holding his wrist, he reached out and grabbed Ray's free arm. Placing his feet against Ray's thighs he kicked back and pulled Ray over his head, sending him crashing to the floor over and behind his head. Upon impact with the ground, the wind was knocked out of Ray and he struggled to push himself off the ground. Kai's feet appeared in front of him as he stood over him, Ray reached out and took hold of his ankles. Kicking his feet off the ground, Ray shoved Kai back to the ground and pinned him to the floor, locking his fingers around Kai's wrists and pushing his weight down against Kai's legs.

Their eyes locked onto the other's again, both narrowing as they stared back at one another. Ray's pupils had yet to dilate and they were both partially breathless, sweat had started to form on their backs and foreheads. Blood had smeared down their chins and jaw lines, the bruise on Kai's cheek was throbbing with full force and had turned dark-blue and purple. Ray's own cheek from the first punch was searing, it too had turned a dark shade of blue against his tan skin.

With another shaky breath as he stilled his nerves, his adrenaline dying down he leant down and captured Kai's lips with his. A soft grunt came from Kai's throat as he pushed his upper half closer to Ray, deepening the kiss. A spark surged down their backs to their toes, and back up to their heads. Kai pulled his wrists from Ray's grasp, after he had loosened his grip on them, and reached around the back of his head till he pulled them back to the ground.

Ray winced as Kai's fingers dug into the back of his head, where he had hit it against the wall. His lips had parted slightly when he hissed, and Kai slipped his tongue in. Ray's body relaxed as Kai gently massaged the sore spot on Ray's head, pressing his tongue along Kai's as it stroked the inside of his mouth.

Parting for air, Ray dug his hips down into Kai's, eliciting moans from both of them. Kai pulled his right hand from the back of Ray's head, clamping it down on Ray's hip as he jerked up against him. Their erections that were tenting through their pants rubbed together, another moan and grunt escaped from within their throats. Kai bucked his hips again, Ray met him with his own hips pressing down hard against him at the same time. The sweat thickened around their foreheads, their breathing picking up with each thrust against the other.

In a rush Kai pulled Ray's shirt off him, having unclasped the two buttons around the collar. Next, he undid Ray's blue hair wrap, letting the long raven locks to spill around them. Sitting up, Kai placed his left hand around Ray's lower back as he kissed and bit onto Ray's exposed skin. Starting at his collar bone and trailing down his chest, nipping his right nipple and rolling it between his teeth. Ray's right hand held the back of Kai's head, his left hand clamped down on Kai's shoulder as his nails dug through the fabric of Kai's dark-blue shirt. Rocking his hips against Kai's as he threw his head back, stretching out his back and pushing his chest into Kai's mouth further.

The hand that had been cradling Ray's backside slipped lower, cupping Ray's ass cheek and squeezing it roughly. Ray squeaked out and jumped slightly as Kai's fingers dug a bit too roughly into his skin, his nails grating into Kai's flesh and clenched the back of his hair, pulling on it roughly. Ray could feel Kai's lips smirk against his flushed skin, the kissing and biting stopped and the hand that was massaging his head came around to his other ass cheek. In one fluid movement, Kai had pulled them both to their feet, their bodies not parting from the other as Kai laid Ray in the center of his bed.

Only parting enough to put his hands between them, Kai continued his work on the hickey he was leaving on Ray's right breast. His fingers unbuttoning and pulling the zipper down to Ray's pants, sticking his hand under the fabric and gripping Ray's hard-on in his hand. On instinct Ray bucked his hips into Kai's warm hold, biting his lip, stifling a moan as his body shuddered from the rough jerking movements. Satisfied with the hickey on Ray's breast he lent forward and took Ray's lips back with his, forcing his lips to part with his tongue, running it along his teeth.

Doing what Kai had done to him, Ray slipped a hand between them and stuck his own hand into Kai's pants. With the same strong grip Kai had on him, Ray took hold of Kai's member and matched the speed and roughness of Kai's menstruations on his own member. Kai let out a grunt between their lips, pushing his hips down causing Ray to tighten his hold.

Nearing their climax's, they released the each other, Kai sitting back and pulling off his pants and boxers, Ray doing the same in a rush. Catching Ray's lips with his quickly Kai pulled back and rummaged his side table drawer, retrieving a bottle of lube and condom. Ray snatched the lube from Kai's hold, preparing his entrance with eager fingers while watching Kai fight with the foiled wrapper of the condom.

"I've… I've not been with anyone since." Ray's voice was barely a whisper, his breathing was still erratic and now he was shaking almost uncontrollably.

Kai paused his fighting with the package, tossing it over his shoulder and taking the lube that Ray left lying beside his head. Coating himself with a thick layer of lube he pulled Ray closer to him, positioning himself in front of his entrance. Ray crossed his ankles around Kai's back, nails nervously digging into Kai's forearms as he waited for Kai to begin. Crimson met gold, holding the other's gaze as Kai eased himself inside Ray.

Ray's back arched, his insides clamping down in protest and he let out a yell of pain. Gentle hands cradled his back as another stroked his cheek, Kai stopping any movement until he could feel Ray relax around him.

"Relax… You need to relax. I've never hurt you before have I?" Kai coaxed, rubbing his thumb gently along Ray's bruised jawline.

Ray shook his head no, trying to relax his body under Kai's. Taking a few shaky breaths Kai could feel his muscles loosen around him, but before he started, he locked eyes with Ray again. Ray gave him a slight nod of the head as the go-ahead, getting a smirk in response Kai pulled back out slowly. A low hiss passed Ray's lips, but he remained relaxed. Kai's movements started slow, careful not to hurt him.

After a few slow, sensual thrusts, he picked up speed. His hips crashing against Ray's, moans and pants filling the room with the sound of skin hitting skin. Ray's nails had dug so far into Kai's arms he drew blood, but Kai ignored it and continued pounding himself inside of Ray.

Laying fully across Ray's body so their chests and stomachs touched, trapping Ray's member between them, Kai continued in harder and more powerful thrusts. Holding the backs of Ray's thighs, keeping them wrapped around his back. Ray released Kai's arms, his fingers entwining in the dark-blue strands at the back of Kai's head. Resting his forehead in the crook of Ray's neck, his breath hot on Ray's skin as he panted and moaned out his last, sending them over the edge at the same time.

Kai released Ray's thighs, slipping his arms under Ray's head as he laid further down against Ray's chest. Shifting his chin to rest on the top of Kai's head, Ray ran his fingers up and down Kai's sweat covered back. Their breathing soon evened out, sleep creeping up on them as Ray purred silently while holding onto Kai in his arms.

"I'm sorry…" Ray whispered, but Kai was already asleep and didn't hear him.

* * *

 **A ballistic punch, or ballistic striking, is from Russian martial arts called systema, where the punch is also called the systema punch. Can look up a few videos of it on youtube, it's a really cool fighting technique in my opinion and it looks really painful.  
**


	6. The Distance

**Author's note:**

 **Yes, I know I'm updating like crazy, but that's just good for you guys. Who likes waiting around for updates?**

 **Long chapter ahead, I apologize, but everything in this was important to have in one chapter.**

 **So, I know I said that Carnival of Rust fit well with the sex scene in the last chapter. Well, I'm officially claiming it at the theme song to this fic. It just fits all too well with this story and whats going on with these two.**

 **In case nobody caught on, the chapters always start with a flash back. The / are indicating a scene change or time skip.**

 **Enjoy the show, lemme know what you think of the story so far.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _"Tyson, I swear if you don't leave me alone, I'm going to knock your fucking teeth in!" Kai shouted from the bedroom, having locked himself in after Ray had left._

 _"Maybe we should just let him be." Hilary tugged on Tyson's jacket, trying to pry him from the door that had been slammed in his face only moments ago._

 _"C'mon man, you've got to know something." Tyson persisted, swatting Hilary's hand from his jacket._

 _"Tyson!" Hilary hissed, though her threats and begging went unnoticed._

 _Tyson was always persistent when it came to making sure the team stayed together, having Ray just up and leave a month ago wasn't setting well with him. Kai had clammed up the day Ray had left, keeping himself locked in his room most days. Partially due to Ray leaving and it was harder to cope than he had expected, the other reason was whenever he was out of his room, Tyson would hound him with fifty questions until Kai retreated to his room._

 _For the first month they searched all of Japan, only to come up with nothing. Ray's account from the BBA had been deactivated three days after he had left, and the last purchase didn't give them any hints either. Every attempt at contacting the White Tigers failed, their old numbers were all disconnected and even Dickenson couldn't contact them, and nobody knew how to get to Ray's village._

 _For a while it went like this, Tyson would pester Kai day in and day out only irking the older teen till he'd either beat Tyson near death or just leave. Five months had passed, and things started to get better; almost as if Ray had never been a part of their little dysfunctional family. 'Ray, Ray who?' They would respond to the reporters who still wanted answers, and eventually those questions stopped as well._

 _Everyone seemed to have been able to forget as another year rolled around, all but Kai. He figured it was going to happen sooner or later, but he wasn't expecting it to happen during a beybattle. He cracked, breaking down in front of his opponent, his teammates, the packed stadium. He had never really cried before, about anything, so when he did everyone was stunned silent. His opponent even forfeited the match, unable to see the man break down the way he did._

 _That night he packed his things, leaving the others in the middle of the night to take over Hiwatari Enterprises, taking the business with him to Russia to try and start anew. He was used to feeling alone, but not like this. The only people he knew were Tala and his old team, even with them around he still felt alone. A hole had burned into his heart, and he tried to fix it by bringing others to his bed. Unable to become attached to any one, or anything the hole got bigger over the years. The only true thing that seemed to bring him any kind of comfort was his company, making sure that his empire climbed the ranks faster than anyone had anticipated._

 _The first attempt at taking his life, happened three years after having moved to Russia and he landed in a coma for four months. After the attack on his life, he was fueled by something else; power. He began to crave it like a drug addict would, he was relentless against his competitors and crushed anyone in his way. When his company outbid another arms dealer to provide the Russian military was the first time his company made national news, and that was the first time Ray had seen him in four years; unbeknownst to him._

 _Ray had been glued to the TV, afraid that if he blinked he'd miss the entire thing. Sitting on the edge of his couch, Kain was down for a nap and he figured it wouldn't hurt to watch the broadcast. A smile had crept up his lips as Kai stepped out in front of the cameras, and Ray noted that he looked good, maybe even better than before. His heart stung in his chest as he watched the man he loved on the TV, knowing that Kai had no clue he was even seeing him at that moment. It was a moment Ray had cherished, as Kain got older and the years passed it was harder for Ray to watch any broadcast about Kai._

 _Then it happened, Kain had just turned ten, and since he was out for the night Ray flicked through the channels till he found the news station. Sure enough, Kai was making a speech as the headlines were concerning his grandfather, Voltaire. He had died of a heart attack, Kai didn't look all the upset about it as he said his speech. A weight had been lifted from Ray's shoulders, pulling out the little paper he always kept with him. It had faded and been torn over the years, but he still held it close to him at all times._

 _His eyes danced over the barely legible writing, the paper having absorbed most of the ink, but he had memorized what it said and with a smirk he torn the paper in half. Ripping the two pieces down the middle again, repeating that motion several times until there was nothing but small pieces of paper littering the floor around his feet. With a bounce in his step he went to his room, turning on his computer and started searching for flights to Russia. /_

 _"I'm sorry sir, but no one is allowed in to see Mr. Hiwatari without an appointment." Ray sighed, he had been standing in front of the receptionist for a good thirty minutes already and all she did was repeat her words._

 _"Fine, when can I make an appointment?" Ray huffed out, leaning against the counter._

 _"I see there's an opening… Six months from now."_

 _"It can't wait that long, look. I have to see him before the end of the month, I have a kid and job to return to. I promise, if you tell him who I am he'll more than agree to see me." Ray begged, trying his best not to lose his temper._

 _"There's nothing I can do, I do apologize."_

 _"Just let me go and see him, why is that so hard for you to do?!" His pupils slit causing the woman to gasp, her finger hitting the emergency button under the desk as it sounded the silent alarm._

 _"I used up ALL my life savings just to get here, please let me see him." Ray begged, and took notice of the nervous look on the woman's face._

 _"God, you people are impossible." He pinched the bridge of his nose as the woman became quiet._

 _"Look, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to cause a problem here, I just really need to see him."_

 _"Ray?" A cold shiver ran down his spine at the voice that came up from behind him, the hairs on his neck standing on end as he spun on his heel._

 _"Bryan?... BRYAN?! Man, am I happy to see you. Can you please tell this bimbo who I am and that I need to see Kai, today?"_

 _"What are you doing here?" Bryan sneered, narrowing his eyes._

 _"I just said, I need to see Kai."_

 _"You shouldn't be here, you need to go." Bryan stalked over to him, towering over him._

 _"Bryan, please you don't understand…. I have to see him, I need to tell." Ray stopped as Bryan held a hand up._

 _"Get out now, before I remove you by force. You don't belong here, and I highly doubt Kai will want to hear what you say, much less see you." He sneered, eyeing Ray before him._

 _"Bryan…" Ray paled a little, but he wasn't all that surprised. "Bryan I'm serious, he'll want to know what I have to tell him." He stood his ground, narrowing his eyes at the taller man._

 _"Alright then, you leave me no choice." Ray raised an eyebrow in question and went to speak as he watched Bryan step back, drawing back his arm and then nothing but pain seared through his face._

 _He had blacked out before his body flew across the floor, blood pooling out of his nose and mouth. Bryan shook his wrist a bit, Ray's blood smeared on his knuckles. The receptionist had squeaked and jumped in her seat as Ray's body hit the tiled floors, a loud crack had sounded as his head bounced off the tile twice._

 _"Should I call an ambulance?" The woman found her voice, though her words came out shaky._

 _"No. I'll take care of this, do not mention this to anyone. Am I clear?" Bryan looked over his shoulder with a pointed stare, his voice dark and the woman nodded feverishly at him. /_

 _Cursing under his breath, Ray rolled on the bed as a hot pain seared through his nose to the back of his head. His mouth still lingered the taste of blood, and he could feel the crustiness of it from drying under his nose._

 _"Surprised you woke up so soon." Bryan's voice caused Ray to bristle, and he pushed himself up off his stomach._

 _The movement caused his head to throb painfully and he clutched to his hair, wincing and cursing from the pain._

 _"Yeah… Wouldn't do that if I were you." Bryan sneered, Ray had closed his eyes from the pain but opened one to see Bryan sitting in a chair across the bed from him._

 _"How… How did you know what hotel I was staying at?" Ray bit his lip, even talking hurt._

 _The muscles ached and screamed at him as he had spoken, he upper lip had caused a pull on his nose and it was unbearable._

 _"You had the key card in your wallet." Bryan said matter-of-factly. "Look, I don't know why you're here and frankly I don't give a fuck. But, you are not welcomed here. So, get your shit and don't ever come back. Next time you won't wake up at all, understand me?" His tone had held that darkness too it, his eyes flashing dangerously, and Ray shivered just looking at him._

 _"Please… I can explain." Tears welled up in the corner of his eyes, though he wasn't sure if it was from the pain or because he had come all this way and hadn't been able to see Kai, and it was apparent he wasn't going to get to at all._

 _In a flash Bryan had shot out of the chair he had been sitting in, pinning Ray to the bed below him pressing the barrel of a gun to Ray's forehead. Unable to free any of his limbs from under Bryan, all Ray could do was look up helplessly into Bryan's eyes. His pupils had sunk back from fear, his mouth agape as he paled in the face._

 _"Do you think I'm fucking playing here?! I mean it Kon, get your shit and get out!" He hissed, pressing the gun closer to Ray's forehead and held it there for a second before pulling it away, standing off of him and backing away._

 _The only thing Ray could do was nod his head, his body shaking uncontrollably as tears ran down his cheeks. Bryan made a noise before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him._

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

Damn, he's got a nice right hook. My jaw is still hurting, not to mention the claw marks he dug into my arms. I don't regret hitting him, and I don't regret sleeping with him either. Yes, after everything he did to me, I still love him. How else was I supposed to react when he kissed me? One, I was too drunk to give a damn and two, I fucking wanted to. Only question is, does he regret it?

I left him asleep to shower, he'll probably be awake when I get out but right now I'm standing in front of my mirror admiring his handy work. My lip that had just started healing from the attack is now split wide open again, it'll take longer to heal now than before. The bruise on my jaw from his arm has died down a bit, but it hurts to move it. The nail marks have already scabbed over, and two of my teeth feel loose from when he upper-cut the shit out of me. I got another bump in the side of my head and I woke up with a headache on top of a hangover.

I can faintly hear him waking up through the bathroom door, having left it cracked open slightly. I know I shouldn't be this nervous, but I am. Stepping out of the bathroom and back into my room, he's sitting up on the end of the bed. The sheets are laid over him, he hasn't gotten dressed yet and his hair is all over the place, it's gotten longer over the years and I was afraid he might have cut it. I can see that his vision is still adjusting, and he's trying his best not to react to how sore his body is from our fight and sex.

"Kai…" His voice is barely above a whisper, must be hoarse from our yelling match.

"Hn?" I try to play it off that I'm not that interested in him right now, I have to get dressed and something to eat before I regret not having anything in my stomach.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles as I pull out a shirt from my dresser to the left of the bed, I chance a look over my shoulder and he's fiddling with the sheets in his hands nervously.

"For?" I ask, straightening my back and pull the shirt on.

"Everything…" He shrugs, as if that sums it all up and solves all our problems.

"That's rather vague." He has yet to look at me, and I don't think he can manage talking and looking at me at the same time. "How bout you start from the beginning." I lower my voice, having already finished dressing I stand in front of him and cross my arms over my chest. I want to look imposing, I want him to feel guilty for what he did to me.

"Kai… I… Shit…" He shakes his head, chewing on his bottom lip and if I wasn't so angry at him I'd say he looked cute doing that. "Where do I even begin?" He asks himself, at least I'm assuming he is since I have no answer for that.

"Alright… When we were dating, we had been together for a year already. Nobody outside the Bladebreakers knew about us for the first year, you were uncomfortable with others knowing. It was July, when we announced our relationship to the world. We had won the national championships, had a few too many drinks and slipped up in front of the cameras." I'm surprised he remembers that, because I sure as hell don't. He was right, I didn't want people knowing about us, because it wasn't anyone's business.

"A month later, I got a letter…." He goes back to chewing his lip and his fingers are griping the sheet in his lap, I shift where I stand because I don't like that look on his face.

"I never showed you, or told you about this letter. It had no return address, but when I opened it I knew who it was from… In the letter, it gave very explicit details about us and what we had done the past year. We were being watched, the moment I read that I wanted to show you the letter, but I didn't because of what it said next. Also in great detail, it listed all the ways my friends would be killed, you and I included, if we didn't break up…" My heart stops, and he's starting to cry.

"I didn't want to… I didn't want to leave you, I loved you. They gave me four months to call it off, I was going too. I couldn't risk us getting killed because I loved you, but then… I got pregnant. Not only were you all in danger, but so was our child. I did the only thing I could think of and I left, I didn't tell anyone because I couldn't risk you all getting hurt." He's sobbing harder with each word he speaks; his knuckles have gone white from holding the sheets too tightly.

My legs want to give way from underneath me, but my anger steadies me and I recollect myself. He hadn't told me about this, if he had we would have been together, we would have raised our son together because there was no way in hell would I have allowed someone to hurt him or our friends.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I scorned, but I didn't mean to. "You could have trusted me with this, I wouldn't have allowed them to do anything to us." My voice keeps rising and he flinches.

"You wouldn't have been able to…" He shakes his head at me, his bangs sway in front of his face.

"Why not? Who sent you that letter?" I calm my tone down a bit, but I am still beyond pissed.

"It had no return address…" He takes in a shaky breath and his tears stop.

"Who sent it Ray?" I demand, I know he knows just by the way he looks.

"Your grandfather, Voltaire. He signed the paper at the bottom… I carried it around with me till he died, I tore it up the second I saw the broadcast five years ago." His voice isn't shaking anymore, and he sounds normal for once, I can see the hate reflect in his eyes.

I understand why now he didn't tell me, why he didn't trust me in keeping them all safe. Now, I would have no problem in dealing with Voltaire, but back then I wouldn't have been able to stop him. He did what he thought was best for us, for our son. I'm neither relieved or upset about it, I missed out on fifteen years of Kain's life, Ray's life, that Voltaire had taken from me.

"Why didn't you come see me after you saw he was dead?"

"I did…" His voice turns cold, and now he looks at me and I can see the anger ten-fold in his eyes. "I came the next day, I left Kain with Mariah in the village. I was only allowed two weeks off work to go, and when I got to your work I wasn't allowed to see you. The bitch told me to come back in six months, I could barely afford the trip I did make, I wouldn't have been able to do it again. Then… Then the bitch sends Bryan after me, bastard punched my lights out and held a gun to my head. Told me to never come back, I figured you had told him to do that, so I didn't."

Every muscle in my body tenses, and he jumps in his spot. I can't see my own face, but I know for him to act that way, I look about ready to kill someone. That particular person being Bryan, he never told me Ray had come and seen me. He never said a damn thing about it, and granite I never said anything to them about what to do if he did show ever show up. Part of me was counting on never seeing him again, so it never crossed my mind on what to do if the situation called for it. I'm not about to blame myself though, that bastard could have, _should_ , have told me.

"Kai?" He sounds nervous again, probably because he can see I'm livid.

"I didn't tell Bryan to do that, I never expected to see you again, so I didn't have any protocols for if you did. What he did, he did on his own and he never told me you had come." My voice is low again and he simply nods his head, but I can see anger flash in them again.

"It doesn't matter now, what's done is done." He says as he flicks his wrist, and he's right but it doesn't help the fact that I want to beat the shit out of Bryan.

"I wish you would have tried to contact me again." He looks up at me with a questioning gaze and I can't help but chuckle at him. His eyes go wide, as if he's figured it out.

"Kai… I'm sorry… But, no… I… I don't love you anymore." Well, there went my happy mood.

"What?! Then what the hell was that last night?!" My arm comes out and I motion towards the bed, and my voice pitches. Of all people to have fallen out of love between us, it was him?!

"It's been fifteen years since I've been with someone… I didn't want you to keep hitting me…. You're still attractive." He shrugs with each suggestion, as if they were justification. "I only came back to get Kain and go home."

"And you said I was impossible." I scoff shaking my head, I don't know why I was expecting things to just pick back up where they left off. "Whatever Kon…"

"I didn't mean to hurt you, I was trying to protect everyone." I had started to walk away, and he grabbed my wrist to stop me, but I jerked it back quickly.

"Just go, the sooner you and the boy are gone the better." He looked away from me at that, and I turned back towards the door, slamming it shut behind me.

I made it down the hall before the first of the tears started to fall, I don't cry easily, in fact I've only ever cried twice in my life. Lake Baikal doesn't count, those were hardly tears. The first time I had ever cried was when Tala kicked me in the nuts when we were seven, I kicked him back good to and now he can't have kids. The second time, was because of Ray when he left the first time. It was one time, but that one time should have been enough, I didn't need, want, to cry about him again.

"Kai?" Shit, Kain. Wiping my face and straightening my back I turn to see him coming down the stairs, for someone who hadn't drunk alcohol like that before he was doing a pretty good job at keeping on his feet.

"Is dad still here?" He asks once he's made it down the stairs and I simply nod at him. "Shit… I thought I was seeing things." He pales a little, at least more than his normal skin tone.

Looking at him I notice that he has Ray's eyes, my color, but Ray's structure and shape. He also has his lips, and I just noticed his ears are pointed, since his hair is a mess and all over the place they're more visible to see, along with the three gold earrings in his left ear. Of all days for me to be getting attached to him, it's now.

"No, he'll find you in the kitchen though. He might still be asleep." I started heading towards the kitchen, knowing he'd follow me before Ray had the chance of walking out of my room. I wasn't ready to have to explain that one to him.

"What happened to you? You look like shit." He chuckles, taking a seat across from me at the table with his own cup of coffee.

"Not sure, must have done it in my sleep." I shrug, and if it was anyone else they would have called bullshit on me.

Before he responds his back stiffens in the chair, he's facing me and I'm facing the door, but I suppose with him being part neko-jin he can hear Ray coming down the hall. Sure, enough Ray starts coming into view through the archway, he looks more put together than I do right now. He re-wrapped his hair and changed clothes from the ones he wore last night, along with applying makeup to hide his bruises.

He doesn't bother looking at me, instead he pulls the chair out on Kain's right and sits down on it, pulling it close enough he might as well have just sat in his lap. I can see Kain start shaking nervously, but he doesn't dare look at Ray as he's trying to casually sip at his coffee. Ray is just facing him, resting an elbow on the table and leaning his head into his hand. A faint smirk coming to his lips and a fang sticks out, the mug in my hand is burning but I can't take my eyes off this scene. Now I see how he was able to handle me so well, if he's that scared of Ray, he must have been a strict parent.

"Hi. I'm Ray, remember me? The man who gave birth to you, fed you and clothed you for fifteen years." Ray begins in mock tone, and Kain chokes on his coffee and nods as he tried to calm his fit.

"Oh good, I'm glad you remember me. See, after you up and left I thought you might have hit your head and forgot who you were and who I was. Care to tell me what you were thinking, since you clearly don't have memory loss." His smirk never leaves his lips, and I can tell he's rather enjoying this. Hell, so am I and I won't lie that it's actually a turn on.

"Um… Well…" He looks at me as if I'm going to help him, I lower my eyes and sip at my coffee. You're on your own kid, I didn't ask for this.

"Don't look at him, he's not going to help you. I'm the one talking to you, so look at me."

"Dad… Please… Just listen."

"I would if you talked."

"Look, I'm sorry I ran off without saying anything… But I got tired of you not answering my questions, don't you think I deserved to know my father?" That's the first time he's called me that, and I feel a little sympathy for him.

"And I told you that I would tell you when I thought you were ready, obviously that wasn't the case since you took off. Doesn't matter now, since you're here. But dammit Kain, what were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt, killed even. You didn't take your phone with you, you fucking scared me. Do you realize that, what you did? I was pulling doubles with no sleep, I stopped eating because I didn't know what had happened to you." The smirk on his lips is gone now, and I can see all the pain and terror in his eyes as he spoke.

Kain just hangs his head as he nods his understanding, for some reason I feel bad for not making him call Ray when he got here.

"I'm sorry dad… I didn't mean to do that to you…" Kain mumbled out, not once has he looked up at Ray.

Ray sighs and sits back against his chair, looking like he's run out of things to say to him. He taps his nails on the top of the table a few times, looking to be in thought and then hold his hand out in front of Kain's face. Now Kain looks up at him, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Your card, give it to me." My own eyebrow goes up, even more so when Kain pulls out his wallet and hands Ray the debit card.

"Wait a minute." They both look at me, and a sheepish grin crosses Kain's lips.

"What?" Ray asks, setting the card down in front of him.

"You had money this whole time?" Ray gives me a weird look, as if I just grew another head.

"Yeah, he has a job. How'd you think he got here?" The grin on Kain's face turns into a full-on smirk.

"He told me he hitchhiked here." I motion towards him, resting back into my chair. Both of Ray's eyebrows go up, and he shifts in his chair to where he's facing Kain again.

"First you tell him I let you drink at home, and now you told him you hitchhiked here? And you believed him?" He turns to me again.

"It can be done." I narrow my eyes, not taking lightly to his tone. "I didn't know when he left your place to come here, he never said."

"He left on the fifteenth." Ray informs me.

"If you had come by plane, why were you wearing those clothes?" I ask, remembering back to when I first met him. His jacket was too big, he was in shorts and slippers.

"I traded my clothes with a homeless guy, figured if I looked pitiful enough you'd be more open to talking to me." He shrugs his shoulders and Ray looks between the two of us.

"Never mind, I don't want to know." He sighs, lifting his hands in the air for a second before placing them back on the table. "We're going to have to use your money for our tickets, I had to ask Mariah for help just to get myself out here." He informs Kain, who nods though he doesn't look too pleased.

"When are we leaving then?" He mumbled, running his index finger along the rim of his mug.

I can feel a pain in my heart, and I turn my attention to Ray.

"The first flight out of here, so go get whatever you have packed. I should be able to find us something in an hour."

"What?!" Kain's head shot up. "You can't be serious, we can't leave right now."

Ray narrows his eyes, his brows furrowing as he stares and frowns at Kain.

"I'm sorry, who's the adult here?" He sneers.

"That doesn't matter, we can't go now. Kai still needs my help and finding the person who attacked us, and I don't want to go yet."

"Oh yes, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Let's stick around so you can get shot again? I think not, and I don't care if _you_ want to go back or not. You've already out stayed your welcome here as it is."

"I'm not going back!" I didn't expect him to lash out like that, not how he had acted earlier around Ray when he said nothing to him. "Kai, don't you still need me? Aren't I allowed the stay here?" He turns to me, and so does Ray who is giving me a look that tells me I should lie to him.

I make it look like I'm thinking it over, I could use him to help us. He already had done so much in getting one step closer in finding the people who attacked us, would that be putting him in danger? Yes, but he's already shown me he can hold his own, so I don't have to worry about him all that much. There's nothing written in the courts saying he can't stay, and I am on his birth certificate, wherever that damn thing went, which means I have rights to him being with me. Not to mention, I just want to spite his father.

"I do need you here, and you're more than welcome to stay as long as you want." I said it casually, but I knew he'd beam like the sun, which he did. Ray on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at me and his pupils turned to slits.

"You're going to risk his life?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"He can hold his own, I'm not that worried about it."

"He needs to come home, I need to go home." Ray bit back, and the anger in his eyes flared up.

"So, go." I shrugged at him, casually sipping my now cold coffee.

"I will, _with my_ son." He sneered.

Kain looked nervously between us again, unsure who to be rooting for.

"I think you forget that he's my son too."

"Really? Is he? What's his favorite food? Who are his two best friends, when did he learn to ride a bike, what was his first word, his blood type?" Of all the things to ask me, it was those things. I know he told me, but I had blocked him out so many times that I don't know.

"How would I know when he learned to ride a bike or what his first words were, you ran off without telling me you were even pregnant!" If I avoid the questions all together, I don't have to answer them. But the look on Kain's face was telling me that I should have known that, did he tell me?

"His blood type is AB negative."

"You only know that, because that's your blood type." Ray scoffed, and he was right.

"Kai?" Kain calls me, almost in a barely audible whisper. How am I the bad guy in this?

"He may have come from your sperm, but he's not your son. I understand, that wasn't your fault, it's mine. But you have no say in where or what my son does." He stood, and I just sat there. Kain looked ready to be in tears, I don't know if it was because he was going to have to leave or because he realized that I had never actually listened to him talking to me before.

"Get your stuff Kain, please." Ray sighed out, and Kain nodded and left. "I'm not doing this to hurt you, or him. You can keep in touch with him, but he won't be coming back here. It's not safe for him, you know that."

"He's my son…"

"No Kai, he's not." Ray sighed out again, apparently, he didn't like having to repeat himself. But it only irked me more and I jumped from my chair, knocking it back as I stood.

"He's MY son! You can't just take him away from me again!" I slammed my hand on the table top, glaring at him.

"I'm doing this to protect him!"

"Because the last time you tried to do that, it worked out oh so well for you, didn't it?!" I screamed back, my blood was boiling. "You're going to go run off again, take him away from me again. Are you _sure_ you ever loved me, because it sure as hell doesn't feel like it! You just keep running off, you can't trust me enough to protect him or give me the chance to!" If my blood wasn't already boiling, it sure as hell would have after Ray smacked me across my face, the slap echoed across the kitchen and my head snapped from the force.

"Don't _ever_ ask if I loved you again, of course I loved you. I've loved you to the point it almost killed me, you say jump and I'd jump, remember?" Even though my cheek stung something fierce, something in his words were more important.

When I straightened back up and met his gaze, it clicked. I don't know why he wanted to do it this way, why he told me he didn't love me anymore. I could see it in his eyes, he did. Was he really that scared that I couldn't protect them? It was obvious he was trying to get out of here with the impression that he didn't love me, but that wasn't going to work.

"Kai… No." I didn't give a damn, cutting him off by grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him across the table till our lips crashed. If he didn't love me, he would have put up a fight, and he didn't.

"Kai… Stop." He pushes on my chest and pulls away.

"Why won't you let me protect you?" I ask, cupping his cheek with my hand, brushing his bangs out of his face.

"Because it's not your job to protect me anymore." His eyes tear up, but I just raise an eyebrow at him. If he came back here, it would be my job. So, what was he getting on?

"Kai… I'm getting married next month."


	7. The Lie Eternal

**Author's note:**

 **I swear I started writing for Forsaken, but I am in such a rut I got two paragraphs done and this story bounced back into my head. So, for now, Forsaken is on hold till I get out of this funk or this story is done. Unless somewhere somehow I can think of what to do with Forsaken, I apologize for that.**

 **Because the start of the chapter is always a flashback, keep in mind that the timeline may bounce around a bit, so pay attention to the dates I give out. The flash backs give the main story it's base, so they are important most of the time, if not always.**

 **Once again, thank you for checking this out, let me know what you think of it. I do enjoy reviews.**

 **Enjoy the show!**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I've made a play list for this fic, with changing the name to Carnival of Rust (By Poets of the Fall)**

 **Each chapter will have a song to go with it, that will help build the suspense and feelings of Kai and Ray. The song may speak for the flashbacks, the whole chapter, or the whole of their emotions. I recommend checking out the songs, the chapter names are the song names, I don't own any of them as they belong to Poets of the Fall, all the songs I have picked out belong to them.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _It was rather a cool July day, in few short days the Bladebreakers would be entering the national's tournament. Kai had made sure to run his team ragged, at times near death; so, they had claimed. From training all day Tyson and Max took off to the beach, to enjoy the rest of their day away from their slave driving captain. While said captain and Ray stayed out in the field he had taken them to for training, as always things had gotten hot and heavy between the two; having found shade under a large oak._

 _Ray's head nestled onto Kai's chest, purring contently as Kai ran his fingers through Ray's unbound hair lazily. After their love making they had put their pants back on, Kai took their shirts and stuffed them under his head as a make-shift pillow. The silence around them was comfortable, their bodies succumbing to their training and love making. Ray was nearing sleep when a soft voice murmured in his ear, and he shot up on Kai's waist. Eyes wide and shining in the suns light, peering through the leaves above them._

 _"Y… You mean it?" He asked, nervousness and excitement mixed in his tone._

 _"I wouldn't have said it, if I didn't mean it." Kai chuckled, keeping his fingers through Ray's hair._

 _Ray's heart flipped and turned in his chest, not knowing what to say to him. He had longed to hear those words for so long, a year they had been dating and not once had Kai said that to him. He was getting better at other things, socializing, and talking about his problems. Ray had started to lose hope, that he would ever hear those words._

 _Leaning down he placed a gentle kiss on his boyfriend's lips, lingering there for a moment. Kai's lips curled into a smirk against Ray's, his fingers holding down firmly on the back of his neck. The shockwaves that always spread through them, caused them to shudder and Ray pressed closer to Kai._

 _Tongues met, for a brief second as if they just wanted to taste of the other one. Ray pulled back, studying the man's features below him. Kai did the same, crimson eyes dancing over the exotic tan man on him. His smirk turned into a soft smile, getting a toothy grin in return._

 _"Tell me again." Ray cupped Kai's cheek in his hand, stroking his thumb over the blue paint. Kai chuckled softly, shaking his head causing Ray to pout._

 _"Kaiiii." Ray whined, pulling his hand away from Kai's cheek and crossing his arms over his bare chest._

 _"Do you really need me to say it again?" Kai chuckled, doing what Ray had done to him before. Stroking his thumb along Ray's strong jawline, Ray taking Kai's wrist in his hand as he leaned into the touch and nodded his head._

 _"Please? For me?" Ray purred his words out, his body trembling from the action. Kai could never say no to him when he did that, and a smirk played on his lips as he could see Kai's eyes haze over with lust from the purr._

 _He pouted again as Kai sat up, keeping him on his waist leaning forward till their foreheads touched. Kai's smirk had grown the length of his mouth, fiery crimson locked onto gold. He enjoyed this, teasing his lover this way was always a fun pass time. Always having the upper hand in everything they did, and he knew how much Ray had longed to hear those words, but this was too much fun._

 _He had grown to love the neko-jin, more than he ever thought possible. It was like a slap to the face, but it didn't hurt because he already knew Ray had loved him. The way Ray walked, talked, ate and slept, he loved every bit of every day with him. Where Ray went he went, and vise-versa. Attached at the hip, constantly touching and kissing. Ray always giving his words of love and devotion, yearning for the day Kai would say the same back. He heard them, but he had loved the sound of it so much he didn't want Kai to stop saying those words to him._

 _"Kai… Please…" Ray closed his eyes, whispering his words. His breath warm against Kai's lips, who pulled them back together._

 _Gentle touches of skin on skin, lips still flushed and full from their previous activities. Ray purred again, harder this time and it trembled through his body and into Kai's._

 _"Please." He whispered again, lips brushing against the others as they had yet to part._

 _"But this is too much fun." Kai chuckled, and flinched when Ray pinched his upper arm._

 _"No it's not." Ray pulled back, pinching Kai once more as he sat back. "Why do you tease me so much?"_

 _"Because you're too easy." Kai pinched him back, but gentler than what Ray had done._

 _He would never dare harm the neko-jin, Ray had no qualms about hurting him though. During normal lover spats, Ray surprisingly got violent. Lashing out with claws and fits, but never enough to do actual damage to Kai. Their first fight Kai was surprised to have seen that side of Ray, but he soon found it to be a turn on in its own way and he loved that other side of Ray too. It was never enough to be considered abuse, or that Ray didn't love him. Kai knew when he pushed him too far, and he never blamed Ray for lashing out; he was part cat after all and he was bound to come unhinged at points. The make-up sex was always something he looked forward to afterwards, sometimes he would pick fights just so they could._

 _"Now you're just being an ass." Ray puffed his cheeks out._

 _"But, I'm your ass." Kai pleaded in a sweet tone, his smirk not wavering from his lips._

 _He was right and Ray wouldn't have traded him for anything in the world, Kai was his and he wanted nothing more. He had strived, day in and day out since they had met to be like this with him. Some days he feared he'd wake up and it'd all have been a dream, but the warm arms and soft lips that greeted him every morning reminded him that he was indeed awake. Nothing could have separated them now, he knew that and cherished it._

 _"True… And what a nice ass it is." Ray gave him a coy smirk and Kai laughed through a grunt. "Well, if you're not going to say anything then, I'm going home to take a shower." Ray huffed, if he couldn't get Kai to say it again he'd have to think of other ways to get the other to slip._

 _Kai released his hold on him, making it look like he wasn't going to stop him. A look of hurt had crossed Ray's face, but only for a brief moment as he slipped out of Kai's hold. Kai handed Ray's shirt to him once he stood over him, their hands touching and Ray went to pull the shirt back. Though Kai didn't let go, so he tugged on it again. This time a wicked grin came to Kai's face, and his eyes shone with a hint of amusement._

 _"Kai!" Ray barked out playfully, pulling one last time and Kai released the shirt._

 _Ray fell back, having used all his strength and lost his balance once the tether to Kai was broken. With a squeak he landed on his back, a dull ache crossing across his back side and down his legs. He laid their fuming, a frown apparent on his face and it grew when he heard Kai belt out a laugh at him._

 _"Ha ha, very funny." He bit out unmoving, his shirt clasped in his fist._

 _"You okay?"_

 _Ray jumped as Kai pulled his body along Ray's once more, resting over him with his hands on each side of his head, his legs between Ray's as he hovered over him. His eyes reflected the amusement he had for his lover, and Ray frowned harder, eyes narrowing and pupils slitting._

 _"That wasn't nice…" Ray pinched him again, twisting the pale skin slightly._

 _"But, it was funny." Kai chuckled, the amusement in his voice not leaving. "I'm sorry." He said quickly as Ray twisted harder, and placed an apology kiss on his lips before helping him back to his feet._

 _"Are you coming with me or not?" Ray asked, slipping his shirt on over his head._

 _"If you insist." Kai shrugged, plucking his shirt off the ground and following Ray back to the dojo as he slipped his shirt on. /_

 _It was like walking on eggshells, for the remainder of the day Kai couldn't have been farther from Ray if he tried. He didn't know what it was he had done, during their second session in the shower he had repeated his words of love to Kai hoping he'd get him to slip while in the throngs of passion. No such thing happened, they finished and that was that. Since then Kai had kept away from him, but Ray could see a smirk on his lover's lips every now and then when he looked to be in thought._

 _The others were around now and Ray knew he wouldn't get Kai to say those words to him again until they went to bed, keeping an eye on the clock after making dinner. Kai had come in to help, but was promptly shooed out as Ray played it off as being angry at him. Dinner was peaceful, no one was any the wiser about the small starring match between the two older teens. As they had finished dinner Ray retreated to their room, leaving the dishes for someone else._

 _He wasn't asleep, only pretending to be and when he heard Kai's shallow and steady breathing as he entered the room, he smiled inwardly. The familiar warmth enveloping him as Kai settled into the bed next to him, arms wrapping around his waist protectively as he nuzzled into the back of his neck. The only noise was Kai's breathing, his breath on the back of Ray's neck and he purred, still pretending to be asleep._

 _"I love you." Kai murmured into Ray's hair, much like he had back at the field._

 _"I love you too." Ray smirked, his plan had worked._

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

"With who? When? You said you hadn't been with anyone." I tried not to shout, even though I was livid.

"It doesn't matter who, you don't need to know. I've been with him for six months, and yes. I haven't been with anyone sexually for fifteen years, there is such a thing called abstinence." He sneered back.

"Six months? You're going to marry a guy you've only known for six months?" A bit relieved to know he hadn't been with someone calmed me down a bit. Yes, I haven't been as abstinent as he has, but I was always careful and if he had been sleeping around, I didn't need to catch something because he wasn't careful.

"Who cares how long it's been? It's none of your business, so just drop it."

"You don't love him." I cross my arms over my chest, he's still sitting on the table as I'm between his legs.

"Yes, I do." He narrows his eyes at me and I scoff at him.

"That's why you slept with me then? Because you love him that much?"

"I told you why I did that, it doesn't mean I don't love my fiancé. It was a mistake and I regret it, so drop it."

"I'm guessing this is why Kain decided to come find me? Does he not get along with my son or something? If I find out he's laid a hand on him." He holds a hand up and I stop, just thinking about someone laying a hand on my son had caused my tone to get cold.

"I would never be with someone who harms my child Kai, what kind of parent do you take me for?" He sneers, and I can see I hit a nerve with what I was trying to convey. "True, he and Kain don't always see eye to eye, but he has never laid a finger on him." He talks normally to me, and then sighs deeply pushing himself away from me.

"What's his name?" I reach out and grab his arm as he stands beside me, facing to leave the kitchen.

"You don't need to know." He jerks away.

"I'll just ask Kain." He stops in the door way and I can see his shoulders slump forward and he lets out a breath of air again.

"His name is Gabriel Orelov…. Happy?" He looks over his shoulder and I nod at him, he sighs again and leaves.

The name Gabriel sounds familiar to me, but for the moment I can't place it on anything. His last name is Russian, that much I knew. With this weird feeling I start for the study, trying to push away the thoughts of losing Ray again. I know he doesn't love this Gabriel person, I can see it in his eyes and the way his body moves. I may not have seen him in fifteen years, but he's just as easy to read as he was back then.

I find something to do in my study, I have reports that need to be filled out since I called off going to the office again. Tala and Bryan have no doubt left before morning even came, which was a good thing as I knew I'd beat the shit out of Bryan the moment I saw him. Even though there are things I need to do, I can't bring myself to do anything.

Ray is leaving me, again, taking Kain with him and has forbade me to see him again. I can't but feel apprehensive about this Gabriel, I know that name. Trying to quell my curiosity I search his name on the internet, I found nothing that was important. He wasn't some big hot shot, or anyone of important. I couldn't even find a picture of the man, so I did the next best thing.

"Tala, need you to look up a Gabriel Orelov for me."

"No problem." He said much more cheerfully than he should have with a hangover. "Care to tell me why though?"

"Just need it done." I responded, and before he could continue his game of twenty question I hung up on him.

Resting my elbows on my desk, glancing at the computer screen again. It was quiet, something I was used to, but with Kain and Ray still here the silence was becoming unbearable. Luckily for me my phone rang, having placed it beside me on the desk I plucked it back up. It was too early for Tala to have been calling me back, and seeing the number was unknown I knew it wasn't him.

"Hiwatari." I grunted out, placing the phone back to my ear.

"Kai? Oh god it's so good to hear your voice, after seeing what happened to you on the news the other day, I was so worried and wanted to know if I could treat you?" The voice was familiar, but I couldn't place a face with it.

A smirk crossed my lips, this was the phone call we had been waiting for. Kain was right for doing what we did, having made our attack public knowledge was the best thing we could have done. This fool on the phone must be a glutton for punishment, but I don't pity him. We still need to find out if he ordered the attack, or if he's just working for someone else.

"Sorry, I didn't save your number in my phone, who is this?" It may be hard to believe, but I changed my tone and talked to him with an air of calm and what some would say flirty.

"That's not a problem, my names Gabriel." A searing heat passed down my back.

"What's your last name?" I almost barked into the phone, I know it's a common name, but I had to know if my Gabriel was the same as Ray's.

"Egorov, I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself more properly when I had called. It's been a few days since we last saw each other, and I know you've probably been too shaken up to collect your bearings. If you want though, I was thinking we could go out this Saturday." Saturday is Christmas eve, but that shouldn't really bother me.

"That sounds like fun, what time should I pick you up or meet you?" I pull out a paper from the desk drawer, and write out the time and place to meet him.

"Great, I look forward to seeing you again Kai." He hangs up and I place my cell back on my desk.

Looking back at the paper I can see more writing on the other side and I flip it over, it's the list of names I had made. I look it over and the X's I had placed, the four of them, are next to the name Gabriel. A smirk crosses my lips, this is our guy. Feeling rather proud of my son I get up and head to his room to give him the good news, as I come up their stairs I can hear angry Chinese coming through the door.

I pause just outside it, unsure whether to go in or not as they're still shouting at each other. I don't know what they're saying, but I can tell Ray is getting louder with each word. Then, it all stops and the door swings open to reveal two angry neko-jins. Both of their eyes are slit, Kain is standing by his bed with a suitcase laid out and open. I didn't make any noise, so how did they know I was here?

"Can I help you?" Still fueled by his shouting match with our son, Ray snaps at me and I will myself not to smack him across that beautiful face of his.

"We got him." I ignore him and look over to Kain.

He drops the shirt he was holding and smiles wide, his eyes turning back to normal as he looks ready to burst.

"No way! That's so awesome dad!" Then he cups his hands over his mouth, as if calling me that was a foul word. It makes me smile at him, but my heart pains at the same time.

"Just thought I should let you know, when does your plane leave?" I turn to Ray who seems to have calmed down now.

"Tomorrow." He huffs and his muscles relax.

I simply nod to them both and leave them, each passing step I will myself not to look back. Plead my case with my ex for our son to stay here, even just for a little while longer. I don't want to be alone like this again, for once I'm glad he came and found me. Though I push it aside, I can't stop them from leaving now. I call Tala back, as I head to the study again. On top of researching Ray's Gabriel, I have him research my Gabriel.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

Kai sat at his desk, going over the stack of papers Tala had brought him that morning after doing his research on both Gabriel's lives. Ray's Gabriel was a native from Russia who had moved to Shanghai and was a doctor, something Kai wouldn't have figured was Ray's type in the slightest. They had his entire life story on a few sheets of paper, but there was no picture of him. Based on the things Tala had found, he was an ordinary man. Something else that Kai had scoffed at, he was boring and tried to figure out what Ray even saw in the man.

Going through the papers for his Gabriel was just about the same, he worked in a law firm. Dull green eyes stared back at him from the picture Tala had provided, his blonde hair slicked back and Kai could see why he had called this man back to his bed several times. He was good looking, tall with a slim build. His skin was slightly pale but it made his eye color stick out, strong jaw line even for someone as young as he was. He was twenty-five, one of the youngest Kai had ever called to his bed since he was thirty-two.

Thumbing through the papers again, trying to keep his mind off Ray and Kain's upcoming flight in a few hours. The past day had been tense in the house, Ray did everything he could to avoid crossing Kai's path, while Kain became attached to his hip. When morning had rolled around, they both were sulking around the house; even though Kai didn't show it as much as Kain was.

"Kai?" Ray called from the entryway of the study, a bundle of towels draped over his arms.

Kai looked up from the papers on his desk, eyeing the man across the room from him.

"What're you doing?" Kai asked, leaning into the back of his chair.

"Just trying to keep myself busy…" Ray shrugged. "Have you seen Kain, I can't find him anywhere and I can't hear him in the house."

"It's a big house." Kai responded dryly.

"Thanks, because I didn't notice that when I first got here." Ray rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant, I can't hear his breathing. Do you know if he left with Tala earlier?" Kai's eyebrows arched for a second at his words.

"Is that how you two can find me?" Kai asked, and Ray nodded his head.

"His breathing pattern is a lot like yours, deep and shallow but even, as if you're not breathing at all." Ray explained.

"Oh… Well no, he didn't go with Tala. I don't know where he is." Kai shrugged his shoulders, figuring if Ray couldn't find Kain then he couldn't make him leave in a few hours. He figured Ray had heard Tala's breathing pattern too, since he hadn't come down from his room till now.

"Alright…" Ray sighed, turning to leave again.

"If you're that bored, I can think of a few things to keep you busy." Kai smirked and he could see Ray bristle at his words.

"In case you forgot, I'm engaged." Ray bit back furrowing his brows.

"Didn't stop you two nights ago." Kai shrugged his shoulders, a playful smirk crossing his lips.

"I already told you… Never mind." Ray huffed and spun on his heel, trying to hide the blush that was crossing his features.

"Why a doctor?" Kai's voice stopped him once more and Ray spun around so fast his hair wrap made a snapping noise.

"How did you know?" There was a slight panic in his voice as his eyes were wide.

Kai held up the stack of papers for him to see, and Ray's hold on the towels dropped.

"What the hell Kai? You can't just go and look people up like that!" He stomped over to the desk and reached for the papers.

"I can do whatever I like." Kai said, pulling the papers just out of Ray's reach. "So, why him?" He smirked as Ray reached for the papers again, the tips of his fingers barely brushing them as he stood from his chair.

"Just give me those papers, and stop snooping into other people's business. It doesn't matter why him!" Ray stepped closer, having to stand on his toes as he reached for the papers again. His pupils turning to slits, and his chest brushed against Kai's as he reached.

"Just seems really boring, did you know he had his tonsils removed when he was six?" Kai asked, the playful smirk getting bigger as it crossed the length of his mouth.

"He's not boring, and no I didn't but why does that matter?" Ray reached again, losing his footing and his chest crashed into Kai's.

Using Kai's shoulder he pulled himself higher, grabbing the papers and tugging on them. Kai still held them in in his hand but allowed Ray to pull them down from above his head, Ray tugged again with a grunt as Kai's hold was still locked onto them.

"Kai." Ray threatened, his was fuming now.

"Ray." Kai mocked, and pulled on the papers a bit back on his side.

"Now you're just being an ass." Ray hissed, and jumped when Kai's face leaned closer to his.

"But what a nice ass it is." He smirked as he could see the blush on Ray's face flare up.

The papers fell to the floor as they both released their grips on them, eager hands pulling the other closer as tongues met in Ray's mouth. Almost melting against the older man, Ray's legs buckled under him. The shockwave hitting them both like lightning, and Ray moaned as his legs hit the back of Kai's desk.

"Kai… Stop…" Ray moaned between their lips.

"You don't love him." Kai whispered back, his lips brushing against Ray's as he spoke, his eyes locked onto Ray's.

"You're wrong…" Ray's voice was low and he didn't sound convincing enough, even to his own ears.

Kai's forehead rested against Ray's, one hand on his lower back with the other buried under Ray's hair as he stood between his legs. Both of Ray's hands were wrapped around Kai's neck, fingers clenching the loose pony tail at the nape of his neck.

"I'm never wrong." Was all he said before crashing his lips back against Ray's.

Ray moaned again as Kai's tongue brushed his lips and he parted them, his tongue meeting Kai's again in a more heated kiss. This was nothing like kissing his fiancé, there was never passion or heat. One of the reasons he never slept with the man was because he was afraid he wouldn't be any good in bed, and that was one of his other reasons for sleeping with Kai two nights ago. He had to keep himself away, because he knew this was going to happen. He already felt guilty for their first night, but now he couldn't stop it; he didn't want to.

Never in a million years would he have thought Kai still loved him, but he was more than elated to know he did. He still loved the man, had all these years and now that he was there he didn't want to leave. The only problem was, he did love Gabriel.

"Stay." Kai said through a shaky breath, having pulled back in need of oxygen and he rested his forehead back onto Ray's who was trembling slightly and just as breathless.

"I can't…" Ray's voice broke as he was on the verge of tears.

"Please." Kai's grip on him tightened. "I love you." He said as he pressed his lips to Ray's forehead, causing the other to roll into a fit of tears.

As Ray went to speak his phone rang, causing him to jump from the sudden interruption as if he had just been caught in the act personally. Kai stepped back, allowing him to answer it. Ray wiped his face with the back of his arm before answering in a voice that would have never hinted that he had just been crying. Kai's heart sank when he saw that smile cross Ray's lips, the glint of happiness crossing through his golden eyes.

"Of course I'd love to meet them." Ray smiled brighter, and Kai stepped back further from him.

"Well, our flight was delayed because of a storm. But if you're here already then it all works out." Ray shrugged, even though the other man couldn't see him. Kai's heart had soared from knowing that the flight had been canceled, figuring that was why Ray had been looking for Kain in the first place.

He took out his own phone while Ray continued talking, texting Kain of the news as he tried to block out the happy tone of the man he loved.

{"Flights canceled, you can have Tala bring you home now."} He wrote out, and Kain responded with a happy face and two thumbs up. Kai smiled down at his phone before stuffing it back into his pocket, and turned back to face Ray.

"I'll see if I can get work to let me stay later, yeah I love you too. Bye." Ray sighed as he hung up, placing his phone down beside him.

"I want to meet him." Kai's tone was dark and he narrowed his eyes at Ray, as if daring him to protest.

"No." Ray narrowed his eyes back, the feelings of passion and lust washing away from him.

"I have a right to meet him if he's going to be in my son's life."

"Does that mean I get to meet all the men you've ever been with?" Ray asked sarcastically.

"I never married any of them, nor did I have the inclination too." Kai retorted with a pointed stare.

"Whatever… That's fine, he'll be here to pick us up on Christmas to meet his parents anyways. You can say hi, and that's it. He doesn't know you're Kain's father, all he knows is that I found Kain in Moscow and he was coming already to see his parents to bring them back for the wedding."

"A wedding that's never going to happen." Kai rolled his eyes.

"It's going to happen, I told you! How many times do I have to tell you?" Ray huffed angrily, getting tired of having to repeat himself.

"Whatever, Tala's bringing Kain home now." Kai said and started to leave.

"You said he wasn't with Tala!" Ray yelled back, spinning around on the desk.

"Guess you're not the only one who lies." Kai responded without looking back, leaving Ray alone in the study.


	8. The Ultimate Fling

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ!  
**

 **Authors note:**

 **I'm not sure if anyone reads these half the time, but this is important. For those who have been reading this from the beginning you'll notice the title of the story has changed, and there are chapter names now. These chapters are all named after songs, each one belonging to Poets of The Fall. I'm not saying to go back and re-read the chapters, since nothing has changed, but I do suggest, even if it seems silly to do so, to check out each song, in the order the chapters have come around, as it tells the story in a more dramatic way. It's not important, but it can help establish a better view of everything going on.**

 **The way the songs works from the first chapter to this one are as follows:**

 **Seek You Out, reflects Kai's feelings and inner turmoil about the past and what Ray had done to him.**

 **Don't Mess With Me, also reflects Kai's feelings. As Kain comes into his life and he holds out some slight hope of being reunited with Ray again.**

 **King of Fools, reflects the flash back at the beginning of the chapter, and flows into the rest of the chapter. (Still done with Kai's feelings in mind)**

 **Kamikaze Love, goes back to Kai, and a bit of Ray. They both still love each other, even if Ray puts up the front that he doesn't.**

 **Carnival of Rust, goes for both of them. They love each other, but they've hurt each other and they can't figure out their feelings. It also reflects the life and lie Kai has been living without Ray in his life.**

 **The Distance, goes back to Kai. His love being crushed by Ray's engagement.**

 **The Lie Eternal, goes to Ray as Kai can tell he still loves him, which he does. But is torn between Kai and his fiance.**

 **The Ultimate Fling (This chapter) Is solely for Ray. It goes with how he feels as a person, and the things he's had to endure over the course of the years. I recommend checking this one song out at least above the others while reading the chapter once it changes to Kai's second Pov. I believe it fits him perfectly.**

 **No, I wasn't intending to make this a song fic, but a lot of these songs have helped me propel this story to where it's at now.**

 **This is a long ass chapter, please forgive me but there was a lot to put in here.**

 **Warnings: Language, blood, violence, death.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _Ray fiddled with his fingers over his knees, his right leg bouncing from his nervousness as he sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Cursing his son and his carelessness, just because he was half neko-jin didn't mean he'd be able to jump out of a three-story building. Thankful that he had insurance, because Kain had always had a bad habit of winding up in the ER for one reason or another. He was always trying to show up for his friends, and they were no better, always egging his son on to do stupid things. Ray was going to end up with gray hairs before he turned 40, he just knew he would._

 _It had been a slight surprise to him how Kain's personality had worked out, he looked so much like Kai it hurt to look at him at times, and even though he had never met his father, his personality rivaled Kai's at times. Though, when under the influence of his friends, Kain was more like he had been as a teenager. He wasn't a bad kid, but he was a teenage boy. Wondering where the time had gone; Kain had just turned fifteen a few weeks ago, and his mood swings were getting worse. Ray had hoped that only being part neko-jin would save him from going into heat, but his wishful thinking had gone down the drain._

 _Trying to explain it to Kain, was something he had not been prepared for. It had hardly been explained to him when he turned of age and had his first heat. Finding out that Ray had birthed him caused Kain to pass out from the shock. Since then, Kain was constantly hounding him for information about his other father, but Ray felt he couldn't tell him just yet. He was still too immature and didn't need Kain to go off and search out Kai, he knew he'd not care about their son anyways, so what would have been the point?_

 _He had to protect his son, even if it meant keeping him away from his father. If Kai had wanted to find them, he would have. The five years after Voltaire's death, Kai just kept rising in the ranks of the military arms race. He had the resources to look, if he wanted to, and since he didn't Ray knew he could never tell Kain about him. It hurt him to keep that away from his son, he had asked if he was related to the Kai Hiwatari he saw on the news and Ray lied through his teeth, wondering why he ever gave Kain Kai's last name._

 _He had always been so careful not to have been watching or reading anything on Kai, but Kain had walked in one time and Ray thought he would die from having to lie to his son. He did it out of love, but he knew Kain was a curious kid by nature and if he was doing his own research to find his father, Ray had no clue; he just hoped he wasn't._

 _"Mr. Kon?" The voice shook him, and his leg came to a halt from its constant bouncing._

 _"How is he?" Ray's voice was dry, the worry in his golden orbs as he looked up at the man who addressed him._

 _Dull green eyes smiled warmly at him, the man's pale blonde hair slicked back, dressed in a powder blue dress shirt and black slacks with his doctor's coat over the top. Clipboard in hand, as he stood next to Ray's chair. He was the same doctor who treated Kain whenever they came to the ER, which had been more times than Ray could count. The doctor was always kind, they shared a few laughs after having known each other through his son's antics._

 _"He'll live, broken rib and fractured shoulder blade and wrist, but he'll survive." The doctor said warmly, and Ray let out a breath of air._

 _"Thank you doctor." Ray stood, running a hand through his hair._

 _"Of course Mr. Kon, it's always my pleasure to treat Kain when he comes in. Though I recommend he not try to jump out of windows again, he might not be so lucky next time." The man laughed, causing Ray to laugh back._

 _"I know, I tried telling him that. I blame his friends, ever since they found out he's part neko-jin they keep daring him to do stupid things. He's going to use up half of his nine lives before he's thirty." Ray said with a slight chuckle._

 _"Boys…" The doctor sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Well, you can go get him now. His sedatives should have worn off by now, here's his discharge papers. You'll need to pick up some pain medication for him at the pharmacy." The doctor handed over the paper to Ray, who nodded with a smile of thanks to the man._

 _"Thank you again doctor." He started to walk past the man, paper held to his side._

 _"Mr. Kon?" The doctor called, spinning on his heel._

 _"Sir?" Ray stopped, half way turning to face the man again._

 _Looking younger than Ray, he was still slightly taller with a slim build. He was a gorgeous man, Ray had noted, the paleness of his skin caused his eyes to stick out, something that had caught Ray's attention the first time he had met the man; Kain was seven at the time._

 _"If I maybe so bold sir, but how would you like to go out for coffee with me some time?"_

 _"I'm sorry?" Ray paled, it had been fifteen years since he had dated anyone._

 _He had people ask him constantly, the patrons of the restaurant where he worked were the worst. His boss had made a few advances on him when he had started working there, till he gave the man a broken jaw and fractured wrist, all the while being four months pregnant. He never had time to date, being a single father was first and foremost his number one priority, but he wouldn't deny that he was lonely._

 _"I must apologize, that was rather brash of me." The doctor chuckled slightly, running his pale fingers through his slicked back hair. "It's just, I didn't notice a ring and you are quiet a handsome man. If I may be bold enough to say. And, well. I feel like we should get to know each other a bit more, since you've been coming here for eight years now with Kain."_

 _"Um… Thank you, but I really don't have time to date." Ray shifted where he stood, trying to avoid the man's eyes as he spoke._

 _"No date then, just as friends. If you can find the time later, then we'll see where fate leads us." The doctor offered quickly, Ray mulled it over for a moment as he stared down at his feet._

 _"I suppose it won't hurt to get some coffee with you…"_

 _"Great, here's my number." The man held out a small slip of paper from his coat pocket, passing it to Ray hurriedly in his excitement. "Call me whenever you have the time, for coffee." He added before walking down the opposite corridor of the waiting room._

 _"W… What's your name?" Ray called quickly._

 _"Gabriel." The man stopped, looking over his shoulder and gave Ray a warm smile, his perfect teeth almost glinting in the florescent lights of the waiting room. /_

 _"Dad, you should stop starring at that and just call the man." Kain huffed, getting tired of watching his father fiddle with the card between his fingers for the tenth time since he had gotten it a month ago._

 _Ray sighed, sitting on a bar stool outside at the kitchen counter. Kain was facing him on the opposite side of the kitchen, able to see through the space in the wall that made up the kitchen and their small dining room._

 _"I don't know Kain… I mean… He's so young…" Ray sighed, he was nearing thirty-two, and Gabriel looked no older than 25._

 _"He's not a minor, you're both adults. He has a good job, and he's good looking. You might as well get over it or throw it away." Kain huffed, trying to pry open the pickle jar lid, which was increasingly hard to do with one hand._

 _"He is good looking." Ray mused, and a slight blush crossed his cheeks. He was no Kai, but the man did look good._

 _Kain glanced up, and sighed. Setting the pickle jar back on the counter he reached across the opening of the kitchen, snatching the paper from his father._

 _"Hey!" Ray barked._

 _"If you're not going to do anything with it, but stare at it, I'll just throw it away." Kain said off handedly, twisting the small slip between the fingers of his good hand, the other still in a cast and sling._

 _"Don't you dare, now give it back!" Ray narrowed his eyes. Reaching across the space, the counter of the bar stopped him from reaching out fully. His fingers barely brushing the paper in his son's hand, who only smirked at his father's failed attempts, a fang sticking over his lip._

 _"Kain Taxon Hiwatari, you give that to me right now!" He hissed as his pupils turned to slits in his small fit of anger, pulling his upper half across the bar._

 _"Then call him already." Kain sighed, handing the paper back over to his father who snatched it back._

 _"Fine…" Ray huffed, settling back down on the bar stool. "Don't ever do that again, do you hear me?" Ray scorned, looking over the top of his eyes at his son._

 _"Yeah, yeah…" Kain waved him off, going back to trying to open the pickle jar._

 _Ray fumbled with his phone for a bit longer, his heart racing in his chest with anticipation as he typed out the numbers written on the card. With a shaky breath he placed the phone to his ear as it started to ring, the second the other line answer he pulled it back from his ear and hung up. Slamming his cell on the counter top, cupping his forehead in both hands as his fingers splayed out the ends of his bangs._

 _"Really?" Kain cocked an eyebrow at him sarcastically, his voice mocking in tone._

 _"Shut up…" Ray huffed, and his phone rang beside him causing him to jump._

 _Before Ray could answer it Kain reached across the space once more, snatching the phone up and answering it quickly. Ray paled and shot his son a glare over his eye lids again, a snarl escaping his parted lips as he slightly bared his fangs._

 _"Hey, sorry about that, my dad got cold feet. Yeah, he's right here. Sure, one sec." Kain smiled, both fangs sticking out from his upper lip as he handed the phone back to his seething father._

 _"You're grounded." Ray mouthed to him, before placing the phone back to his ear. "Hello?"_

 _"Mr. Kon? It's Gabriel, but you should know that… So, coffee tomorrow? Say around nine?" If he was upset at Ray for having hung up on him without saying a word, he didn't show it._

 _Ray felt another blush cross his cheeks, he figured after not having called the man back in a month he would have moved on. The sound of his cheery voice told Ray that he was more than pleased with him for having called, and a small swell of guilt passed through him. This man was truly interested in him, and he slightly smiled at that notion. He was lonely, and even if nothing came of it at least he had a new friend._

 _"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Sorry about hanging up, it's just been a really long time since I've done this sort of thing." Ray said sheepishly, ignoring the thumbs up he was receiving from Kain across the space of the counter._

 _"Not a problem, I haven't really done this sort of thing before anyways. But I am glad you called me back, I was starting to worry." He chuckled which caused Ray to smile wearily._

 _"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that to you."_

 _"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow at nine, the lil café by the hospital will work since I have a shift at eleven."_

 _"Okay, sounds good I'll see you then." Ray smiled, this time it spread across the width of his mouth before hanging up._

 _"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Kain asked, placing his good hand on his hip._

 _"You're still grounded."/_

 _"Ray… I know we've only been together for three months, and I've really enjoyed this time with you… So… I was hoping… What I'm meaning to ask… Is… Will you marry me?" Gabriel stuttered, his pale cheeks burning and turning red as he bent on one knee before the speechless neko-jin._

 _Three months had come and gone by so fast, it took a while, but Ray had fallen in love with Gabriel. He was a kind and gentle man, he was dominating for his age, but Ray didn't complain; he was never one for being the dominate one. He was partially surprised that Gabriel had stayed with him for three months without sex, it wasn't that they didn't want to, Ray really wanted to, but the only flaw he could pick out in his boyfriend was he was a terrible kisser. Though comparing him to Kai wasn't all that fair for him to do, Kai was the only one he had ever kissed before anyways, so it wasn't like he had anyone else to compare Gabriel to._

 _Aside from that, Gabriel was the perfect boyfriend. He was kind and shared his thoughts on a whim, he was affectionate in public with him and they shared stories. He was a complete opposite of Kai, not having to beg and plead with him to be open and it was easy for him to have fallen in love with Gabriel. He was happy, he hadn't been happy in years, at least not like this. Kain was his pride and joy, but there were other forms of happiness Ray knew he needed. Kai was never coming for him, and he was never going to seek him out again after being threatened by Bryan. Even though they had only been together for three months, he felt he knew Gabriel well enough, he could see himself living with him for the rest of their lives; and he needed to move on._

 _"Yes. Yes, I will." Ray nodded, a smile crossing the width of his mouth._

 _Gabriel smiled warmly up at him, taking Ray's outstretched hand and slipped a gold band over his ring finger. Standing up he pulled the older man into him, resting his chin on the top of Ray's head. They embraced for a few minutes before Gabriel pulled back, tilting Ray's chin to meet his gaze and their lips touched._

 _No spark, no lighting passed through Ray's body. He didn't go limp or breathless, it was always like this. He loved him, but his body didn't ever react the way it did when he had been with Kai. Strong pale arms wrapped around his back tighter, pulling him closer to Gabriel's chest. The door to Ray's apartment opened and they pulled apart quickly, Ray's face turning bright red as Kain stepped into the house._

 _"Ew." Kain coughed, setting his backpack down by the door as he started to take off his shoes._

 _He liked seeing his father happy, but after meeting Gabriel and having him in their lives, he found a distaste for the man. He could see Ray was happy, and that Gabriel loved him, but he always stuck his nose into his business like he was his father and he hated it. He had been his doctor for eight years, but that didn't give him the right to snoop into his private life. At first the age difference hadn't bothered him, but the more Gabriel grated on his nerves he realized that he hated that to. He was old enough to be an older brother, not his father._

 _"Sorry about that Kain." Gabriel started, only getting a sneer in response. "But, you'll just have to get used to it. Your father just agreed to marry me, isn't that exciting?"_

 _"No, not really." Kain said off handedly, and shrugged his shoulders._

 _"I'm sorry you feel that way son."_

 _"I am not your son!" Kain bit back, his crimson eyes narrowing as a fire of anger danced in them._

 _"Kain, that's enough!" Ray barked out, standing between his fiancé and son. "What is wrong with you? Bad day at school or something?" He lowered his tone, turning on the concerned father look._

 _"I don't want to talk about it." Yanking his backpack off the ground by his feet. Kain stormed out of the living room, slamming his door shut down the hall to his left._

 _"Well… That could have gone better." Ray huffed._

 _"It's alright dear." Gabriel placed a hand on his shoulder, kissing the side of his head gently. /_

 _In the safety of his room, having locked his door, Kain unzipped his bag and dumped out the contents onto his bed. Spreading the papers over his bed, some newspaper clippings, others pictures he had gathered off the school's computers. The birth certificate he had found hidden the day before in the mess of papers, as he sorted them out. Pictures of Kai Hiwatari splayed out, his heart racing as he stared at the man who looked just like him. Finding the small picture in his pocket, he had pulled off the net, he sat it next to a recent photo clipping of Kai._

 _The photo was old, Ray looked to be fifteen or sixteen when it was taken. There were three other boys in the photo aside from his father and Kai, he didn't know them personally but had read online their names were Tyson, Max, and Kenny. The bluenette was Tyson, the blonde was Max, and the brunette was Kenny._

 _The five of them were all posing around a large Beyblading trophy, Tyson was in the center of the photo sitting in front of the trophy as it towered behind him. Max was on his right of the photo; a hand was on Tyson's shoulder with a large smile plastered on his face as he held up a peace sign with the other. Kenny was on Tyson's other side, with a nervous smile on his face. His father was on the left of the trophy in the back, his golden eyes vibrant and gleaming with pride, his fangs sticking out through his wide smile. The man who looked like the Kai Hiwatari in the newspaper clipping just stared back at him, the crimson eyes that reflected his own were devoid of any emotion, but Kain could see the slight curl of a smirk on the corner of his lips._

 _Glancing between the picture of his father and Kai, a sinking feeling came down in his stomach. Something within him snapped, and he realized that he had found him. Clawing through the other papers and clippings he found the most recent article, reading the fine print quickly before pulling out his cell phone. He searched for plane tickets from Shanghai to Russia, calming his nerves once he made the purchase he sat on the bed plucking the old photo back into his hands. His eyes studying the man he came to realize was his other father; he had found him._

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

No doubt that this Gabriel of mine was the man we were looking for, the entire night I had been with him at the bar he constantly asked, begged me, to bring him home. Telling me how much he had missed me, missed my touch on his pale skin. His dull green eyes hinted that he was lusting after me, and for once it made my skin crawl. I refused his advances, if that's even believable, but I couldn't bring him back to the house with Ray and Kain still there.

Even though I didn't walk back into my house till past three the next morning, Kain was there waiting for me in the living room. A wide smile on his face as he watched me step into the house, obviously waiting for me to tell him what I had found out.

"So?" He practically bounced on the couch, looking like a five-year-old.

"Yeah, it's him." I simply nodded, removing my heavy coat and placing it in the coat closet by the door.

"Why didn't you bring him back? We could have interrogated him." He cocked an eyebrow at me, I didn't answer right away.

Stepping further into the living room and taking a seat in the arm chair across from him, it was no surprise he was curious to meet this man, I hadn't shown him the photo Tala had procured for me yet.

"It wouldn't have been smart to do that with your father here."

"Nah, he'd prolly give the guy a busted lip for having his men shoot me." Kain chuckled, and I smirked thinking about it.

Ray could, and I knew he would if given the chance if he came face to face with the man that shot his son.

"Plus, I'd like to give the guy one too." Kain broke the momentary silence that had found us, and I simply nodded.

It had taken all my will power not to beat the guy near death seeing him, every touch he had placed on my skin made it crawl and my muscles had tensed under him each time.

"So… What are you going to do today? You could come with us." He offered, and I scoffed at him.

It was Christmas morning, I never celebrated the holiday once I had left the Bladebreakers, and I wasn't about to break that tradition. Not to mention, Ray would have my head if I tried to accompany them to _his_ Gabriel's parents' house. He was coming to my house to pick Ray and Kain up around eight, and to be honest, all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to sleep.

"That's alright." I shake my head.

"Damn… Wish you would come… I can't stand that bastard." He groaned, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back into the couch.

"Has he ever laid a hand on you?" I ask, I know Ray said he would never be with someone who harmed his son, but I wanted to make sure.

"Fuck no, dad would have killed him if ever raised a hand at me. I mean, I got smacked around good by dad when I was younger, but he's my father. No, this guy… He's old enough to be my brother, but he acts like he's my father… It grates on my nerves, and dad is always trying to pick sides, but he never corrects him." He sneers, and his crimson eyes flame in anger.

"How'd they meet?" I ask.

"He was my doctor, asked dad out after I turned fifteen. I had been dared to jump out of a three-story window, broke a few bones. Gabriel had always been ogling dad, since I was in and out of the ER so many times he finally got the balls to ask dad out. I actually pushed him to get with him… I just wanted to see dad happy…" He trailed, and I can see he regrets ever doing that.

"Gabe asked dad to marry him three months after they started dating in July, and that's when I had enough. I started looking for you, I could see dad was never going to tell me about you. He was trying to forget you, and so he said yes. He says he loves Gabe, but I can tell it's just a front. "He's a terrible liar."" We both say as I cut into his speech and he nods with a smile on his lips.

"I mean, Gabe always treated him right and all. But I found it weird that they never… You know… So, it seemed odd to me and I put the pieces together for why, and came to that conclusion. That's why I came and found you, hoping you'd still have feelings for dad and so I could get to know you. If you still loved dad, and since he was still obviously in love with you, he'd call off the engagement with Gabe." His face softens, and he looks upset; I tried kid, I really did.

"What was your plan if I still didn't love him?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest, placing a knee over the other as I sit back into the armchair.

"Dunno." He shrugged, a sheepish smile crossing his lips. "But it's obvious you do, I mean… You ravaged him all night when he got here." A coy smirk crosses his lips and I tense. How did he know?!

"Even though I was shit-faced drunk, your breathing patterns were off the charts. When we were attacked, you didn't sound like _that_. Plus… You two _were_ a bit loud." He must have seen the questioning look on my face as he answered my unspoken question and I feel my cheeks flare up. I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I am.

"Plus, I could smell you on him when I got up. You took a shower and the smell of him wasn't on you, but I could see the way you two were acting that morning afterwards and put the pieces together."

"Damn neko-jins…." Is all I can manage to say, and he laughs at me. "Well, I tried kid. I really did, he doesn't want to stay." I offer, and he frowns.

"He's a stubborn old man, he doesn't know better." He insults his father and it's my turn to laugh.

"True. I can see both of us in you, it's almost scary how much you're like us." I say without thinking, I had meant to think that, but my words slipped and cause him to beam like the sun, and I don't feel bad for speaking my mind.

"Kain? What are you doing up so late?" Ray asks, stepping into the living room rubbing his eyes.

His hair is out, and it's framing his body and the sleepy haze in his golden eyes dull their color slightly. He's in a large white baggy shirt that hides his slim form, blue shorts that reach his knees and I don't look away. Kain notices and smiles, though he doesn't say anything.

"Just talking with Kai." He hasn't called me dad or father since the day he slipped, and I haven't referred to him as my son since then either. I think we're both trying to distance ourselves because he'll be leaving tomorrow, and we don't know how we'll handle it.

"How'd it go?" Ray perks up slightly, and I can see he is actually interested in knowing. He sits on the couch next to Kain, and rests his elbow on the arm rest laying the side of his head into the palm of his hand.

"It's him, no doubt. But whether he's the one orchestrating it, or working for someone else is yet to be known."

"What are you going to do to find that part out?" He asks through a yawn, his tongue rolls slightly back and my eyes shift to look quickly. I always loved that tongue of his, it could do things others couldn't; I loved everything about him.

I'm buzzed slightly from being at the bar, and he looks too good not to stare or want to, as Kain put it, 'ravage' him until he has to leave.

"When you all leave, back to China, Tala and I will work it out. Don't worry about it." I shift, tightening my legs together; damn him and his good looks.

He nods, still a bit groggy from having woken up and a silence passes over us. Kain has been looking from him to me, as if waiting for one of us to do something other than sit, me starring at Ray and Ray staring at the archway of the living room.

"I asked Kai if he'd like to come with us." Kain chirps up, and Ray straightens his back.

"Hello no!" He looks at me next, as if I had said yes before.

"I'm not going." I bite back, and his muscles relax.

"Good. It'll be hard enough to explain you're his father."

"You still haven't told him?" I raise an eyebrow. He had talked to Gabriel on and off the past day, since having told him he'd meet his future in-laws. So, I was a bit shocked to hear that he hadn't told him about me yet.

"No, everyone I know doesn't know I'm the one who gave birth to Kain. They always assumed he had a mother somewhere or that she died, I never bothered correcting them."

"But, he has my last name… That should have sparked some questions."

"No, not really. It's not an uncommon name, and I told those who asked that I had given him his mother's maiden name." He explains calmly, brushing it off as it's no big deal.

Truth be told it's not, but it still irks me that he was never open about who I was to Kain.

"Well… This'll be fun, won't it?"

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

I take my words back, this is anything BUT fun, and no it's not because I'm meeting Ray's fiancé. It's the fact that his fiancé, this 'Gabriel Orelov', is MY 'Gabriel Egorov'. I don't know which of his last names are real, or if his whole name is fake.

When he had stepped into my home, his façade of acting as Ray's fiancé dropped. He knew where he was, he knew all along who I was. Ray was none the wiser and I pity him, and I pity Kain for being wrapped up in this.

My fist met his jaw, knocking him to the ground as I came from the kitchen when he had just stepped through the front door. Ray had screamed and tried to pull me off, Kain didn't know what to do so he just stayed back. I was too strong for Ray to pull me off, but my arm came back and knocked him upside the head as I was beating the shit out of this man. That was when I pulled off Gabriel, leaving him there on the floor turning to Ray in a panic.

"You alright?" I ask in a rush, I didn't mean to strike him, but he should have backed off.

"What the hell Kai?!" He narrows his cat like eyes at me, and sneers holding his jaw.

"It's HIM! He's the one who attacked us. Your fiancé is the one responsible for attacking our son!" I shout, pointing at the unconscious man behind me.

"W… What? No… No, you're wrong…" Ray's anger folds under as panic settles in his eyes, and Kain makes a noise beside me. "What are you doing?" He asks as I rummaged in the coat closet, pulling out the rope I have stuffed back there.

"When he wakes up, you can get your answers." My tone is harsh, flipping the man over and tying his wrists together behind his back.

"T… This can't be right…" He shakes his head, but I can see a hint of anger swelling in his eyes.

"He may not have been the one who ordered the attack, but he's the one I met with last night. You've been dating the man; did he ever leave China to come here or give himself away at all?" My tone is raised, even though I don't want to be shouting at him. It wasn't his fault, none of this was his fault.

"Yeah… He's from here… I never questioned it though." He raises to his feet and stands over Gabriel, his eyes still slit, and he bares his fangs out of anger. "Fucking piece of shit!" He yells and kicks the man in the side, who convulses under the force and makes a noise, waking up from his unconsciousness. Damn Ray, you sexy beast, hit him again.

"Hello, _dear_." Never mind, let me hit him.

I reach down, pulling him up to his feet. His face is already swelling, his right eye is completely closed but he has a cocky smirk on his face as he peers through his other half-closed eye.

"You're rather cocky for someone on the brink of death." I snarl, gripping his shirt collar tighter.

"Oh no Kai baby, I'm not the one who is on the brink of death." He smirks at me, his blood trailing down the corners of his upturned lips.

"What're you going on about? What the hell is going on?!" Ray steps closer, grabbing the other side of his collar.

"You'll find out soon enough. I must thank you Kain, if it wasn't for you running off like you did, none of this would have happened." He chuckles towards my son and I shove him against the front door.

"Don't you dare look at him again!" I threaten, blocking his view of Kain with my face.

He doesn't wince or look like he's fazed and it's only pissing me off more, Ray had lost his hold on the shirt and just stands behind us.

"Kai baby… There's no need for all this." He shakes his head, and I shove his head against the door, he hisses out in pain and a smirk crosses my lips from getting a reaction out of the bastard.

"Why?!" Ray demands behind us, but I don't look back.

"As I said… You'll find out soon enough." With that the lights in the house went out.

I couldn't see, I had no emergency lights to turn on if this happened. There were no windows in the foyer, and the walls were dark so there was no light what-so-ever where we were. I cursed under my breath and released my grip on Gabriel's shirt, pulling my gun out from behind me.

"Ray, Kain, you two alright?" I called, it was pitch black in the house, but I knew they could see; damn neko-jins.

"I'm fine. There's seven cars pulling up the drive now." Kain answered and he came up beside me, his cologne giving it away.

"You know where the guns are, go get them and call Bryan." I ordered, and I heard him take off.

"Kai…" Ray began, and I found my way over to him where I could barely make out his silhouette in the darkness. "Tell me what to do and I'll do it." If he was scared, it didn't show in his tone.

"Take this piece of shit with you to the cellar, it's behind a book shelf in the study. Get him to talk." I ordered and heard him shuffle around in the darkness, two pairs of feet left me in the foyer.

Kain came back, shoving a gun in my other hand and I placed it in the waist band of my pants.

"Bryan's on his way with the others." He informed me, and I nodded to him.

"How many are there?"

"I'm not sure… There's a lot though. What do we do?" Much like Ray, he didn't sound scared.

"Stay with me for now, I can't see a damn thing in here, so take us upstairs to the second study." That room had the largest window and it faced the front of the house.

He grabbed my arm and led me up the stairs, his hands were shaking slightly as he held onto me.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

"Talk!" Ray bellowed, shoving Gabriel across the floor. The cellar barely lit by a small emergency flood light; the only one in the entire house. Gabriel's body collided with the cement floor, but he didn't wince or show any signs of distress.

"What's the matter _dear_? I thought you loved me." Gabriel smirked, the shadows that were cast across his pale face made him look like a vindictive spirit. His once dull green eyes shown with amusement, and the smirk on his lips upturned towards his ear.

"Shut up! Tell me what's going on, who is doing this? Who are you working for?!"

"It's quiet easy to tell who I'm working for, don't you think?"

"Voltaire is dead!" Ray spat back.

"True. He is dead, but that doesn't mean he didn't have loyal followers that are still alive. Did you honestly think running away like that, pregnant with Kai's child, you would have been safe? You should have had an abortion and then killed yourself in the end, it'd be a shame to see such beauty be wasted, but then if you had you wouldn't be in this mess."

"You sure are a cocky bastard. What does this follower of Voltaire want? I left, I left Kai and all that like he had asked me to."

"But you were still alive, that wasn't going to work for Voltaire. You see, you tainted his grandson, so you had to die. Though, no one knew where you had run off too. Lucky for us, you appeared in Shanghai after giving birth to that spawn of yours. Stupid you couldn't get over your love for Kai, and you gave the bastard his last name. Sealing both of your fates, then when you showed up after Voltaire's death… Well… That's when we targeted you fully."

Ray's anger swelled in him and he kicked at the man, knocking him to fall back over. He didn't stop his attack, his foot connecting to the back of Gabriel's legs and spine. He could hear and feel the bones snap with each kick, his rage blinding him until he got down on the man. His fists flew in the air, blood splattered from Gabriel's nose against his face, but it didn't stop him. From the force of each blow, Gabriel's head smacked back against the cement and blood pooled around him, drenching his blond locks and staining them red.

It wasn't until he could no longer hear the man's breathing patterns under him did he stop, sitting back on his legs on the dead man's waist. His own breathing was ragged, his adrenaline rushing through his system as he tried to calm his nerves. His right knuckles were bruised, and he could feel the pain of a broken finger shooting through his arm, but it was a dull ache because of his adrenaline.

His head felt heavy as he reveled in his own turmoil, he had been such a fool to let this happen. He had done everything he could have to protect his son, all for nothing it seemed. Tears rolled down his bloodstained cheeks, but he didn't move to wipe them away.

He jumped as the door to the cellar opened, turning his head sharply as his body tensed. Relaxing as he saw Kai coming down the stairs, bruised and bloodied. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when Kai pulled him off Gabriel's body in a strong embrace, his lips crashing against the other. Even with everything going on, the shockwaves hit them.

"I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry." Ray cried, burying his head in Kai's chest once he pulled away. The smell of blood made his stomach churn, and he did his best to ignore it. "Kain… Where's Kain, is he alright?" Ray pulled back in a panic, his wide eyes locking onto Kai's.

His heart sank, not wanting to see the way Kai's eyes hazed over with tears.

"No… No…" Ray shook his head roughly, his own tears spilling out.

"I'm sorry." Kai choked through a sob, rubbing a thumb along Ray's cheek as his lover fell into a full fit of hysterics.

* * *

 **Some of you may had already guessed the two Gabriel's were the same man, I wanted you to figure it though.  
**

 **I spent all day on this chapter alone, and I love how it turned out. Please review, I really appreciate them.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the story as a whole. I'm going to be a bit mean and not update for a few days, just to leave ya'll in suspense. I'm mean, know.**

 **Yes, I combined Tyson and Max's names for Kain's middle name.**


	9. Overboard

**Author's note:**

 **Hope you all enjoyed that cliff hanger, but the twists (not that the Gabriel's were the same man was much of a twist to begin with.) are about to get worse. For once, this story is going on the right track, so yes. Everything you've been reading has been planned from the beginning (Shocking, I know.)**

 **As always, the chapter name is a song name, by Poets of the Fall. (Amazing band, really recommend checkin the songs out.)**

 **Warnings: Just expect there to be violence and blood from now on.**

 **As always, enjoy the show.**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

 _"Thanks for cutting my hair Mariah, and for coming out here." Ray said sheepishly, starring back into his reflection in the mirror, running his fingers through the ends of his now shoulder length hair._

 _"Not a problem Ray, I'm glad I could help. We should go out baby shopping!" She clapped her hands together excitedly._

 _"I already have everything I need." Ray looked over his shoulder at her, and she puffed her cheeks out._

 _"Oh, come on. You can't have more than enough with a new baby. Besides, his aunt needs to pick something out for him."_

 _"Alright, we'll go. But not for long, my feet will swell if I'm on them too long." Ray sighed, glancing back at his reflection in the mirror._

 _Mariah had done a decent job in cutting his hair, now it wouldn't be such a bother once he gave birth. His bangs still framed his face, while the back laid just at his shoulder blades. His head felt lighter, and he could feel the air on the back of his neck._

 _They gathered their shoes at the front door, Mariah snatching her purse up from the coffee table in the middle of the living room, practically bouncing on her feet with excitement. Ray struggled to bend over and slip his shoes on, cursing under his breath as he couldn't reach around his protruding stomach._

 _"Help." He whined out with a slight laugh._

 _"Oh, you poor thing." Mariah chuckled, going over and slipping his shoes on for him as he lifted his feet for her. "Are you sure there aren't two in there?"_

 _"Yes, very very sure. God, that would be horrible." Ray paled, that was one fear he didn't have to worry about anymore._

 _Every checkup was the same, one heartbeat, one baby. The doctors lost their voices having to repeat and reassure him every time he came in, he had been terrified of having twins because he was so big. The baby had positioned itself lower around his hips and it caused his stomach to round all the way out._

 _When he had gone for his twenty-week checkup he beamed like the sun, he was going to have a son of his own. He had called Mariah that day and it was the first time she had heard him sound actually happy since he had left Japan. Now he was in his last month of his pregnancy and she had come to be there for the birth, his only confidant and friend now it seemed._

 _"Ready?" She held her arm out for him, and he took it and allowed her to help him down the stairs to his apartment building. /_

 _"Oh Ray, look at this." Mariah called, pulling out a small pink onesie with closed feet and flowers over the fabric._

 _"I'm having a boy…." Ray sighed, thumbing through a rack of clothes beside her, going through the boy section while she had bounded over to the girl section._

 _"I know, but it was cute." She shrugged, placing the hanger with the onesie back on the rack from where she had pulled it._

 _Ray simply shook his head, a soft smile on his lips as he shifted where he stood. They had been out walking and shopping for three hours, and his feet were aching something fierce now. He was having too much fun though to call it a day, not to mention they hadn't bought anything yet since Mariah couldn't find anything she liked._

 _He wandered off, leaving her where she was rummaging through the racks. Aimlessly wandering the store, looking at all the baby items that were stocked on the shelves and the displays of cribs and swings on the floor. His smile grew wider and he placed a hand on his stomach as he felt his son kick him, it was hard, and he winced from the pain._

 _"Stop that…" He whispered out, rubbing where he had been kicked._

 _Another flutter crossed his insides, and he laughed to himself. Even though he was used to it by now, the people staring at him like he was some oddity, was still uncomfortable. Ignoring the other customers stares he carried on through another aisle filled with toys, he hadn't gotten many, making sure he had the essentials first before spending what little he had on things his son couldn't even play with yet._

 _As he made his way down the aisle, he paused in the middle of it as a toy caught his eyes. Plucking the little stuffed white tiger off the shelf he inspected it, a smile creeping up his lips. It was perfect, looking and reminding him Driger, whom he kept in a lock box at home. Taking the toy with him, cradling it in the bend of his arm he started back to the clothing section to show Mariah. Nearing the end of the aisle a burning pain shot through his back, passing down his legs._

 _It hit him with such force that he paused and doubled over slightly, another pain flared up a second later. These were nothing like the Braxton Hick contractions, these were real. His face paled slightly, and panic settled in his stomach, he went to step when another pain shot through him._

 _"MARIAH!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs._

 _"RAY? Ray are you alright?" She ran over towards him, almost running over a couple pushing a baby stroller through the store._

 _"The baby… The baby's coming…. It's time…" He winced, gritting his teeth as another contraction hit him hard._

 _"Okay Ray, just breathe and I'll call an ambulance." She said hurriedly, pulling her phone from her purse before calling for the ambulance._

 _"Oh god… The baby's coming…" Ray repeated, his fears unwavering._

 _"It's okay Ray, just breathe." She reminded him again._

 _"No… No, I'm not ready." Ray shook his head quickly, all color washing away from his face._

 _"They're on their way hon, just calm down and let's go to the front of the store." Mariah coaxed, helping him to stand straight again._

 _He linked his arms with hers, trembling and shaking as he let her take him towards the front of the store, leaving the stuffed tiger laying on the floor. /_

 _Ray blinked a few times, having stared up at the white ceiling was becoming boring. The big blue sheet they placed across his chest kept him from seeing what the doctors were doing, the drugs in his system had caused him not to feel a thing, something he was more than happy to have had. The room was quiet for the most part, every now and then he'd hear the metal of the instruments clink and the doctors say something in a hush whisper to each other. A line of sweat had formed around the rim of the plastic cap they had placed over his hair, where it sat on his forehead._

 _He couldn't feel his toes or anything lower than his chest, and he counted to thirty for a fourth time when the sounds of a baby crying broke the silence. The doctor's hushed whispers turned into full on voices, demanding and commanding what to do with the newborn while they stitched him back up. The crying from his son was like music to his ears, and his smile grew from one corner of his lips to the other, spreading the width of his face._

 _"Mr. Kon." A nurse called to him softly, standing to the left of his head as she cradled his son in her arms._

 _Ray turned and looked, his eyes watering at the sight of him. They had already cleaned him up and cut his umbilical cord, where the remainder of it stuck out of his belly button. He was still in a crying fit, causing his face to redden. Ray's eyes danced over him, he was perfect. /_

 _"Oh Ray… He's precious." Mariah cooed, cradling the newborn in her arms._

 _Having been moved into a recovery room Ray sat on the bed, watching Mariah coo and talk to his son while she walked around the room. His legs were still numb, and he was tired, but he wanted to stay awake a bit longer just to revel in his joy._

 _"Oh, open the bag." Mariah said quickly, having remembered the plastic bag that she had placed beside Ray on the bed._

 _"You went back?" Ray's eyes beamed as he pulled out the stuffed tiger from the store they had been to earlier._

 _"It seemed to fit, now it's from both of us." She smiled brightly at him, and he smiled back._

 _"Thank you, Mariah, for everything." He wiped the stray tears away as they rolled down his cheeks._

 _"Did you think of a name yet?"_

 _"Kain." Ray said a bit sheepishly. "After Kai… What do you think of Taxon being the middle name, after Tyson and Max?" He asked with a slight blush on his cheeks._

 _"Kain Taxon Kon, it sounds good." She nodded her approval._

 _"Actually… I'm giving him Kai's last name." Ray's blush spread._

 _"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mariah asked, raising a brow at him._

 _"Honestly? I don't know… He is his father, and he deserves that much. I think it would be wrong of me not to." Ray fiddled with his fingers on his lap._

 _"Well… I wouldn't do it, but you're his father so it's your decision." She didn't sound too pleased, but he knew she wouldn't say more than that. /_

 _"Hey Mariah, how are you?" Ray asked, placing the phone to his ear as he finished wiping up the mess Kain had made on the floor, giving him a stern look before walking away to the couch._

 _"I'm alright, how's my favorite nephew?" She asked, her voice pitched with excitement._

 _"He's doing fine, he's starting to walk now." Ray chuckled, resting into the back of the couch._

 _"Oh my, he's what, ten months now?" Mariah sounded surprised and Ray chuckled again._

 _"He's stubborn, every time he falls down he just gets back up."_

 _"Awwwww. Well the reason I called was because… Well… You should just turn on the TV and take a look on the news for yourself." She lost her cheeriness as she spoke._

 _"Okay?" Ray did as he was told, turning the TV on and finding the news station._

 _His eyes grew slightly wide, tears threatening to spill out as the camera zoomed in on Kai's face. He was dressed smartly in a black suit and tie, dark sunglasses covered his eyes. The front of his hair was slicked down, while the back had grown out and was tied in a low pony-tail, where the ends were draped around his left shoulder. His cheeks were clean of the blue paint, as he faced the crowd of reporters in front of him. Voltaire was standing to the side of him, Ray clenched his teeth upon seeing the old man._

 _"What's going on?" Ray hissed into the phone, his grip tightening on it._

 _"It seems Kai's gone back to Russia… He's taking over Hiwatari Enterprises from that old man of his." Mariah sneered._

 _"Perfect…" Ray rolled his eyes. "At least I know he's alright… He looks good." Ray spoke his thoughts, and Mariah didn't say anything back._

 _"You going to be okay Ray?" She finally found her words, worry in her tone._

 _"Yeah… I'll be fine. Thanks for telling me, I have to go now." He hung up before she could respond, wiping his cheek with the back of his arm._

 _Kain had wobbled over to him, his crimson eyes staring blankly up at him. He coughed out a sob and picked his son up, cradling him in his arms and holding him tightly to his chest. Even at ten months old, Kain looked just like Kai. His hair was coming in darker like his, but he could see the slate colored highlights when the light hit his hair right. His eyes were the same deep crimson, his skin pale._

 _It had been a year and a half since he had left Japan, left everything behind to protect his lover and friends. It hadn't been easy, trying to find work as a pregnant man had been hard on him, but he had pressed on and made due. When Kain was two months Kai had turned eighteen, so it made since to Ray that he would have left Japan as well. He just had hoped he wouldn't have gone back to his grandfather, but Kai was never the wiser about his grandfather and what he had made Ray do; and he never blamed Kai._

 _It was hard seeing Kai on the TV, but he didn't dare look away, the tears spilling down his cheeks as he held Kain tighter._

 _"There's your daddy." Ray choked on a sob, pointing at the TV._

 _Kain's small eyes traveled the length of Ray's outstretched hand, but he just stared at it blankly._

 _"You look just like him…" Ray trailed, nuzzling his chin in the soft fuzz of Kain's hair. "I wish you could meet him…" /_

 _"Kain Taxon Hiwatari! Get out of that tree, right this second!" Ray called, straining to look up into the tree his son had climbed up into._

 _"NO!" Kain called back, hanging off a branch above his head._

 _"You're going to fall and hurt yourself!" Ray huffed, placing his hands on his hips._

 _"I'll be fine." Kain called back down before flipping himself around the branch._

 _Ray grumbled under his breath, but wasn't about to jump into the tree after his son. If he fell, he fell. More than likely he would land on his feet anyways, so he wasn't all that concerned. This was normal for him anyways, since Kain had turned seven he couldn't keep the boy still. Constantly running and climbing things, getting into trouble more often than was necessary._

 _The more he grew, the more he looked like Kai and it pained Ray to look at him. He had his hair, the pointed ears and his eye shape, but everything else belonged to Kai; he was the perfect mix of them._

 _"DAD!" Kain's voice called out to him, his hand slipping off the branch and he fell._

 _"Kain!" Ray ran over, holding out his arms to catch._

 _Sliding into the ground, Kain fell into his arms. The skin on Ray's arms burned and seared, he could feel blood rolling down them, but he ignored it. Eyes dancing frantically over Kain's body in his arms, praying silently he was alright. Kain winced, grabbing his right wrist as he hissed, his pupils turning to slits._

 _"What did I say?" Ray exclaimed, and sighed pulling himself up with Kain still in his arms._

 _"Sorry Dad…" Kain said sheepishly, not able to meet his father's gaze. "My eyes hurt… I think I hit my head…"_

 _"Probably." Ray chuckled, unsure of how to explain to his son that he was a neko-jin just yet. He avoided telling him, carrying him in his arms out of the park to the hospital for the first time since he had been born; the first trip in many to come. /_

 _"What the hell is this?!" Ray shouted, throwing an open and crumbled pack of cigarettes on Kain's lap._

 _"Why are you going through my things?" Kain shouted back, gripping the pack in his hand._

 _"Excuse you? Last I checked, I had that right being your father. What are you doing with those, you're thirteen Kain!" Ray shouted louder, his pupils turning to slits as he towered over his son._

 _"They're not mine, they're Chou's!" Kain threw the pack across the floor of the living room, where they bounced off the TV screen._

 _"I'm supposed to believe that?" Ray sneered._

 _"You don't have to if you don't want to, but it's the truth!"_

 _"Raise your voice at me one more time…." Ray threatened, eyes narrowing._

 _"Ugh…. Sorry…" Kain looked away, starring at his feet as his muscles relaxed._

 _"What's gotten into you this month?" Ray sighed, sitting on the couch beside his son placing a hand on his shoulder. "First you get into a fight at school, then you're skipping school and now this? I thought I raised you better than that Kain."_

 _"I… I don't know dad… I'm really sorry, though they're not mine I swear." Ray looked him over quickly and sighed again, patting his sons shoulder._

 _"Alright… I believe you… Are you… Um… Do you know what's bothering you?"_

 _"I don't know… Like one day I'll be fine and then the next day I can't seem to control my anger, the tiniest little thing will set me off and I can't control it." Kain huffed._

 _"Damn… I think I know what's going on…" Ray sighed, taking in a deep breath as he began to prepare the speech he was hoping he'd never have to have with him._

 _Kain looked over at his father with questioning eyes, and he waited patiently for him to start._

 _"You're part neko-jin, I'm a full neko-jin and I was hoping you'd be spared of this… But what you're going through is normal, think of a girl when she gets her period. You're going through heat right now, if you were to have sex with a man, you'd get pregnant, so don't." Ray warned quickly, Kain's mouth dropping slightly open._

 _"When you get headaches and your vision changes, you never see it, but your eyes turn like mine do when I'm angry. I know you've asked countless times, and I brushed your questions off, I'm sorry for doing that. But you'll be alright, it'll pass, and you'll be back to normal soon. You'll only go through heat once a year, so don't worry about it coming back next month."_

 _"Um… So…. Like… This is weird…" Kain stumbled, unsure of what he wanted to even say._

 _"Tell me about it." Ray rolled his eyes._

 _"So like… Were you the one who gave birth to me then?" Kain cocked an eyebrow._

 _"Yes." Ray nodded, and watched as Kain's face paled and he fell back against the couch. "Shit." Ray huffed, shaking his head slightly. "Didn't expect that to happen."_

 _By the time Kain had woken up from fainting, he hounded Ray for answers on who his father was. Ray was evasive and avoided his questioning, telling him to not bother asking him because it was better he didn't know. His other father didn't know he even existed, and for a while Kain dropped it until he stepped in the apartment while Ray was watching the news two years later when he turned fifteen._

 _Kain's eyes caught sight of the man that was being interviewed, looking just like him and he turned to Ray who was trying to frantically find the remote in the couch cushions._

 _"Is that him?" Kain asked, stepping closer to the TV._

 _"NO!" Ray yelled out unconvincingly._

 _"We have the same last name."_

 _"Doesn't mean anything, there's plenty of people out there with your last name. That's not him, I promise." Kain gave him a disapproving look, but didn't say anything and walked down the hall to his room._

 _Ray huffed a breath of air, his muscles relaxing as he prayed Kain wouldn't push the issue further. /_

 _"Kain, I'm home, what's for dinner?" Ray called, not noticing the missing smells of food cooking in the kitchen as he took of his shoes. "Kain?" Ray looked up, the apartment was dark, as if no one had been there all day._

 _Panic settled into the pit of Ray's stomach as he couldn't hear Kain's breathing patterns in the small space of their apartment._

 _"Kain!?" He called again, running down the hall to his son's room._

 _Throwing the door open and he froze, it was empty and a mess. Drawers were left hanging open on the dresser, clothes were scattered around the floor and the bed was unmade. Grabbing his phone from his pocket he went to Kain's number and placed the phone to his ear, his arms shaking as he bit back the tears._

 _"Fuck!" Ray cursed, having heard Kain's ringtone coming out muffled from under the unkempt bed sheets in the room._

 _He had called the police, they came and inspected the apartment but found there to be no foul play and brushed him off. Ray's anger had built up the entire time as they passed off his missing son as nothing but a teen being a teen, when they had left he felt numb and stayed awake the entire night, watching the front door as if it was going to open any minute._

 _He had called Mariah and told her that he was missing, and she tried her best to calm his nerves. Her words didn't help him though, and as the days rolled on by he felt lost. His body was a wreck and he couldn't eat or sleep, he didn't know what to do with himself. Gabriel had called him up several times, but he never answered his phone. Every night he would sit on the couch, watching the door. His work was threatening to fire him, but he didn't care, he just wanted his son home; safe. /_

* * *

 **Normal POV**

Ray groaned as he rolled onto his side, burying his head into the sheets. The smell of Kai enveloping him, and he shot up out of the bed, his head protesting as it seared with pain.

"Hey, it's alright take it easy." Kai coaxed, rubbing Ray's back gently as he had been sitting on the bed watching Ray sleep.

He had cried so hard he had passed out in the cellar, Kai had taken him back to his room and cleaned Gabriel's blood off his face and hands. He had bandaged the split knuckle on his right hand, and reset Ray's broken finger for him while he had been passed out.

"Kai… Where's our son?" Fear settled into Ray's stomach as he looked over at Kai, who once again fought back the tears that were threatening to come up.

"They took him…" Kai spoke in a hushed whisper, keeping his hand on Ray's back as he started to cry again.

"Why? What do they want with him? Is he alive?" Ray sputtered through his sobbing.

"I don't know… I'm so sorry Ray."

"It's not your fault… It's mine… It's my fault…" He hiccupped, no longer able to shed any tears as his reservoirs had dried up and he heaved out dry sobs. "What do we do? Where's Gabriel?" His sadness washed away as anger took its place and he sneered Gabriel's name through his lips.

"You killed him." Still keeping his voice low as he spoke, not wanting to upset Ray again.

"I…I did?" Ray's face paled slightly, and Kai nodded. "Oh god…" Ray covered his mouth and he trembled.

"It's alright… If you hadn't, I would have." Ray simply nodded, stilling his nerves. "We're working on finding out where they may have taken him, you need to eat something." Kai said gently, tugging on Ray's arm to get him out of the bed.

"I'm not hungry…" Ray sighed out, his body becoming stiff.

"You need to eat love, c'mon." Kai pulled harder, and Ray allowed him to pull him to his feet.

Ray's stomach turned as he walked down the hall to the kitchen, his hand tightly clenched in Kai's as he led them down the hall.

"What did he tell you?" Kai asked, setting Ray down at the table before turning into the space of the kitchen.

"He was working for someone who was loyal to Voltaire, he didn't give a name… Apparently me leaving you wasn't enough, they wanted me dead… Our son dead… I should have never left… If this was going to happen anyways, what was the point?" He sobbed again, burying his forehead in the folds of his arms on the table.

"You did what you thought was best, and you were right to leave. At the time, I wouldn't have been able to protect you all." Kai explained, his voice still low and calm as he finished preparing the sandwiches for them.

"Eat." He commanded, pushing the plate towards Ray as he sat across from him at the table.

Ray sat up, picking the sandwich up numbly. He took a small bite, and chewed it longer than he should have. Kai gave him a warning look and he sighed out, taking a bigger bite this time.

"You need to keep your strength up. You won't be of any use to us if you're too weak from not eating."

"I know… But… How can I just do things normal like this when I don't know where he is?" Ray asked, setting the half-eaten sandwich back on the plate in front of him.

"It won't be easy, not until we find him, but it has to be done." Kai finished his sandwich and reached across the table, taking Ray's hand in his and squeezed it gently. "I promise, I will find our son."

Ray simply nodded at him, unable to look him in the eyes, but he slightly enjoyed the warmth from Kai's hand on his skin. His body tensed, hearing two different breathing patterns coming up behind him through the archway of the kitchen.

"Ray?" Kai called, pulling his hand away from him as Ray's pupils slit and he bore his fangs.

Unsure why he was suddenly looking like that, his eyes grew wide as Ray jumped from his chair, knocking it to the floor behind him. Ray whirled around on his heels, eyes narrowing at Bryan who seemed to freeze in the doorway of the kitchen, Tala standing to his side with a questioning look on his face.

"YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Ray screamed out and before anyone could stop him he lunged at Bryan, his fist contacting Bryan's already bruised face.

"Ray! Stop it, he had nothing to do with this!" Kai rushed around the table, Tala had stepped back from the scuffle that started beside him still looking completely lost.

Ray had knocked Bryan to the ground, sitting on his waist as he punched his face repeatedly. Kai was able to miss his arms as he reached down and yanked Ray off of Bryan's body, Tala finally moved in to help Bryan off the floor. Ray stopped his flailing as Kai held him tight to his chest, his breathing was ragged, and he kept his eyes locked onto Bryan's.

His knuckles had split open again when he had attacked Bryan, he had his blood smeared across his skin. Bryan's nose bled like a waterfall, but he didn't bother to wipe it away. Claw marks were seeping small amounts of blood, and they stung on his face.

"If you had let me see Kai all those years ago, none of this would have fucking happened!" Ray bellowed out, trying to pull from Kai's hold.

Bryan didn't say anything, Tala's hands on his shoulder fell to his side as his eyes grew wide.

"What?" He managed to say through his stupor.

"Five years ago, I came to Russia to see Kai. This bastard put a fucking gun to my head and threatened me! It's your fault this happened, if you had let me see him, told him I had come. This fucking wouldn't have happened!" Ray struggled again against Kai, his anger unraveling around him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tala hissed at Bryan, who had yet to say a word.

"What's done is done, now stop it Ray. This isn't Bryan's fault." Kai's hold around Ray's waist tightened, and his tone had gone cold.

"Bullshit! You work for them, don't you?" Ray sneered out, Kai's grip loosened slightly but he hadn't noticed yet.

"WHAT?!" Tala and Kai shouted in unison, eyes darting from Ray to Bryan.

"The only person who knew I had been to see Kai was you, Gabriel knew though. He said that after I had come here, they were tracking my every move after that. Before that, they had no idea where I was." Ray spit out, Kai's hands completely fell to his sides as he glared hard at Bryan.

"Is this fucking true?!" Kai bellowed out.

"Bryan?" Tala whispered, his heart breaking in two at the thought of his lover being a traitor.

"Heh… You're smarter than you look Ray." Bryan finally spoke, his voice dripping with venom.

Kai stepped between the two, pushing past Ray, drawing his gun and pressed it to Bryan's forehead. Tala backed away, eyes wide and brimming with tears. Bryan didn't flinch as the cold metal pressed into his skin, his eyes narrowing down at Kai.

"Why?!" Kai demanded, pressing the gun closer to Bryan's head causing it turn slightly. He cocked back the hammer as Bryan didn't answer him, their eyes locked on each other's.

"If you kill him, we won't get our answers…" Ray broke the silent tension, stepping up and placing a hand on Kai's shoulder.

"Tch… Where did they take my son?" Kai lowered his gun from Bryan's forehead.

"Don't know." Bryan said dryly, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"Quit playing games!" Kai bellowed.

"I. Don't. Know." Bryan repeated, staring back harder at Kai.

Kai's back tensed again, his hand itching to put the gun back against Bryan's forehead and blow his brains out. The hand Ray had placed on his shoulder was still there, and he decided against it.

"Why, Bryan?" Tala's words were spoken barely above a whisper, and he hadn't moved from his spot.

"I have my reasons." Bryan sneered, finally wiping the trail of blood from under his nose.

Kai made a move to step closer, but Ray held him back. His nails clamping down on Kai's shoulder, and he stopped.

"Get. Out." Kai's voice was deathly cold, his eyes burning the color of a dark ruby.

Tala stepped away, inching closer to Kai as Bryan left without a word. The front door closing behind him casually, the tension in the air around them sweeping out the door as he had opened it and the other three men let out a breath of air from their lungs.

"Kai… I… I had no idea, I am so sorry." Tala bit his bottom lip, his once fierce blue eyes hazy and dull. "You know I loved that kid like my own, I would never have…" He trailed off as Kai simply started to nod at him.

"Should we have let him go?" Ray asked, his hand still on Kai's shoulder as he came and stood beside him. He wasn't going to let go anytime soon, he couldn't.

"We'll deal with him later…" Kai mumbled, reaching up and clasping Ray's hand in his.

"What do we do now?" Tala asked, his eyes turning back to the way they were before as he composed himself.

"I wish I knew…" Kai trailed, releasing Ray's hand and pulling away from his hold as he stalked down the hall to his room, his door slamming shut behind him.

"Ray… I… I don't even know what to say." Tala began, having turned back to face him once Kai was out of sight.

"I don't either…" Ray sighed, shaking his head slightly. "I just want my baby back…"

"If I had known you came, I would have let you see him. God, he was so miserable without you."

"That makes two of us." Ray offered a miserable grin. "I'm gonna go check on him." Ray shuffled past Tala, hanging his head as he walked.

Tala watched him quietly leave, his mind going a mile a minute as everything came crashing back down on him. Bryan had betrayed them, but they still didn't know why. It may have been a foolish thought, but Tala was only praying that he was playing some kind of double agent and he wasn't actually on the wrong side. With a sigh of defeat he meandered back up to his room he had claimed as his long ago, silently praying that things would work out for the best.

"Kai?" Ray called softly, closing the door behind him gently as he stepped into the room.

Kai had his back turned to him, sitting on the far side of the bed toying with the gun in his hand. His shoulders were slumped forward, his breathing pattern had changed as it was more quick and uneven; he had been crying. Ray smiled softly, crawling along the bed till he pressed his chest into Kai's back and wrapped his arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry about Bryan…" Ray breathed out against his neck.

"Don't be… I should be sorry about that, not you." Kai's voice cracked slightly as he spoke, recovering quickly as he finished his sentence.

"I just wish we knew what to do…" Ray rested his head on Kai's shoulder, taking in his forgotten scent and the warmth he had missed for fifteen years.

"More than likely they'll come to us… Right now, it's just a waiting game… Voltaire had many followers, trying to pinpoint which one is doing this… It would take too long…"

"If anything, good has come of this… I'm glad Kain found you." Kai snorted at Ray's words, and a small smirk crossed his lips.

"Yeah… Me too." He rested his free hand around Ray's forearm that was loosely wrapped around his neck.

"Guess you were right."

"About?" Kai turned slightly to look over his shoulder, hazed red meeting gold.

"The wedding never happening." Ray chuckled slightly, and Kai's smirk grew.

"I told you, I'm never wrong." Ray simply nodded, nuzzling closer into his neck as a purr escaped his body.

"Hey…" Ray sat back quickly as a thought crossed his mind, and he frowned.

Kai shifted on the bed, setting the gun on the floor as he turned to face Ray fully.

"He was my fiancé, but you were the one sleeping with him." It was more of a statement than a question. Kai shrugged, he was trying not to think about it.

"Wasn't that good."

"I knew it." Ray huffed out, and they both let out a pained laugh.

Trying to act normal, while their son was kidnapped going through who knew what, was harder than they had originally thought. There was nothing they could do for him right now though, so they clung together. Ray had killed a man, Bryan had betrayed them. Everything was coming down hard on them, the strength they pulled from each other was like it always had been. Strong and unbreakable, something they knew they could rely on; they had to.


	10. War

**Author's Note:**

 **I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit off, it took me a while to find my rhythm back and a lot of what I wrote out came slow and kind of lazy.**

 **Shout out to my reviewers though, when I see that you guys love this fic so much it really brings back the motivation to keep going. I never half ass things, so this will be completed (Forsaken as well, even though that one is becoming a bit harder to work on than I was expecting.) Never think I will leave a work undone, if it so happens that it never gets finished, assume I am dead, because that would be the only way that will happen.**

 **As always, the chapter name is a song by Poets of the Fall. It makes sense for the chapter, so I recommend looking it up while you read. It speaks extra volumes to Kai and Ray's plight.**

 **Enjoy, if you can, it's not my best work and I apologize for that.**

* * *

 **Ray's POV/ Alternate Timeline**

 _You cried, when I showed you the test; I cried when I showed you the test, but you said we'd make it work. I believed you, and for a while the results separated us until we realized we needed each other._

 _Our friends were confused, how was it possible for a man to be pregnant? Max seemed to understand after only telling him once, Hilary got it the third time, Tyson it took until I was showing; you were always rubbing my stomach the bigger it got. Daichi, bless his little soul, didn't understand it at all. Kenny, the know-it-all he was, already knew. Said he had researched neko-jins the moment we had met._

 _The letter I received, you tore it up and vowed you'd protect us at all costs. You kept your word, for the most part. It didn't do anything to quell my fears at night, even during the day I was terrified to go anywhere without you by my side. You quit blading, and got an actual job and moved us to a secret location. You didn't even tell the others where we went, but we still saw them in out in public for our monthly get-togethers._

 _We had what we needed, it was hard, but you did what you could do for us. I could tell, the closer it got to the due date you were getting restless; more stressed. I tried, I really did but you started to push me away again. I didn't blame you though; you didn't ask for this._

 _You weren't home when it happened, you had taken a double shift at work; at a bar no less. Luckily it was a day where I was with the others, for our monthly get-togethers and I wasn't alone; I would have been terrified if that was the case. Your son was born June twelfth at nine on the dot, weighing nine pounds and six ounces; it was no wonder I was so huge._

 _An hour later you came barging into my recovery room, the night had done its toll on you, but you put on a mask and held your son for the first time. You cried again, I cried and then he started crying. You didn't let me take him, you were glued to him the moment you saw him. I had only ever seen you smile like that maybe three times since I've known you, and my heart melted at the sight._

 _When we went home with him the first week, we fought because I was exhausted, you were exhausted, and he wasn't sleeping. The third week we got into a rhythm, but you were still pushing me away and I didn't know what to do. His second month of life, you came home drunk more so than I had ever seen you before and I threatened to leave. You begged me to stay, and I listened because I was still afraid of your grandfather finding us and I had nowhere to go._

 _He was the pride and joy of your life, you got better, we got better. Things were looking up and you were the best father any child could have asked for, you were the best lover anyone could have asked for. Five years down the road, you received word that your grandfather had died, old and alone in his miserable house. We didn't go to the funeral, but the money you received from his will helped us move closer to the others. I thanked you for days, I had been so alone and now I had my friends again; I had you again._

 _You weren't all that strict, but your son was a bit rambunctious and he tested your nerves the best he could. I could only sit back and watch, it was too much fun not to help you when you became so flustered. He was a wild one, your son, he kept us on our toes day and night, but you still loved him. Yet, you forgot to love me in return. You were slipping from my reach again, we had never been so close and yet so apart at the same time._

 _Our world came crashing down on us again, this time you didn't cry, you yelled at me and left. I didn't blame you, I shouldn't have been so careless. I feared you'd leave me for good, be a single parent to our children but you came back. You apologized and asked me to marry you, I didn't accept._

 _Unlike the last time, you barely touched my stomach the bigger I got, you didn't hold me or give into my needless demands of my cravings at three in the morning. Once again, we were further apart, and I didn't know why. Unlike last time, you were there when I went into labor. You panicked, unsure of what to do and I think I saw you cry a little when I was wheeled away; to bring our second child into the world._

 _Much like last time, you were glued to your daughter. She looked more like me than you, but you didn't care; she was perfect in your eyes. This time, we already knew what to expect and it helped us come back together. We weren't so far apart now, and it wasn't until your daughter was three did I accept your proposal._

 _For once we were happy, everything was going right. Until you slipped, you slipped so far away from us and there was no way to get you back this time. We shouldn't have been so careless, we thought we were safe. I had your word that we were safe, but you lied._

 _Your son was fifteen and your daughter was ten when we laid you into the ground, of course it rained. It rained for days, and like my tears it didn't stop. Fear gripped me tighter than it ever had before, and I left Japan; left you. I took your children with me back to my village, I didn't feel any safer there either, but I knew it would be hard for those who took you from me to find us there._

 _I never married again, never smiled again, never loved again. You were all I had, all I would ever have. I pushed on for your children, god your son looks just like you and it kills me every day. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, you should be here aging with me, not me surpassing you. I wasn't prepared to be the oldest of the two of us, I wasn't prepared for the days as they rolled on by like nothing happened. They did, years would pass without giving me a second thought. Time is cruel in that way, it never stops, and our children never stopped growing._

 _Your son did his best, he tried, but he got into a group with some bad people and he ran away. I haven't seen him in seven years, and I don't know whether he's alive or not. Your daughter hasn't left my side, she takes care of me when I'm the one who should be taking care of her. She's stubborn though, just like you, and she won't let me._

 _When I go, I want to be happy and at peace, but I don't think that's going to happen. I still feel trapped here, like I'm being watched day and night. This wasn't how it should have gone, I should have left the moment I got that letter. You didn't deserve this; our children didn't deserve this. I could have left you, even though it would have killed me to do so. Now, it was too late, and I've lost just about everything in my life._

 _If I could go back, I would leave you. I wouldn't tell you a thing, and I'd be alone till I died, but if that meant you were safe I would do it. Just to protect you, to protect our son. I failed you, just as you failed me. I shouldn't have believed your lies, and you shouldn't have believed mine._

 _Maybe in another life, I'll do the right thing. Maybe in that other life, we'll find a way back to each other. We'll have our children, we'll be safe. You'll have me, and most importantly I'll have you._

* * *

 **Normal POV**

Tears rolled down Ray's cheeks as he sat there on Kai's bed, lost and feeling more alone than he ever had been. Kain, his son was gone, it was his fault and he didn't know how to make it better. Leaning closer, gently Kai cupped Ray's cheek in the palm of his hands, gently pulling him closer to his face till their lips touched. His thumbs gently rubbing away the tears that rolled down his lover's face, Ray sobbed into the kiss. The shock wave came down ten-fold, and Ray held back a purr as he leaned closer into the kiss. His own hand cupping Kai's own dying bruised face, feeling the raised skin of old and new scars from over the years on his skin.

Part of him felt wrong, being this close to Kai again while their son was missing. The other part of him was begging for this, he needed to be given some sort of strength. There was nothing else they could do right now, it was a waiting game as Kai had said.

Fingers traced every line of the other's features, having forgotten the way they made up the other, secretly memorizing and studying the other again much like they had done the first time they had been together. It was old, and it was new, this feeling where their lips and hands touched the other. Ray pulled back slowly, everything was moving in slow motion for him, as he leaned back on his elbows in the center of the bed. Kai following, just as slow, like he wasn't sure if he should keep going. He didn't stop though, not now, not when he too needed this comfort.

Tentatively and slowly their lips touched again, it wasn't rushed nor was it hard. It was slow, mesmerizing and intoxicating. Trembling fingers met chests, backs, and arms. Biting back any noise, as if making any would ruin the moment or break them further. How could they do this and not stop? Kai did, pulling back and looking ashamed, until Ray pulled him back down. Tears stained his tan skin, and as Kai's eyes met Ray's, tears rolled down his own cheeks.

Just as slow as before, hands pulled and touched. Clothes were left on the floor somewhere, hands traveled thighs and backs; less shaky and stronger. Pulling the other, molding the two together. Still no noise passed their lips, or erupted from their throats. Their eyes were locked in a deadly match, constantly asking unspoken questions.

Kai's grip got a little tighter, digging his fingers in the back of Ray's head. His hair falling around them, like a shield. Ray's own fingers dug down into Kai's back, his legs wrapped tightly around his lover's waist. Kai kept their balance sitting in the middle of his bed, as Ray moved against him in a slow pace. Riding him out as long as he could, just so that he wouldn't have to wake up to his nightmare of a life.

Strong pale arms held Ray to Kai's chest, every inch of their bodies that could touch, did so. Lips locked once more, sucking any pain away that they could. Tears came back to Ray's eyes, but they went unnoticed as he rode out his climax. No noise passed their lips, and they stayed wrapped around the other for what seemed eternity. Ray's head resting on Kai's shoulder, his face buried in the crook of his neck as his tears dried up. Kai's chin resting on Ray's shoulder, stroking his hair and back in slow and calming motions, until Ray fell asleep.

Gently Kai pulled Ray off him, setting him back onto the bed and covering him with new unsoiled sheets. He placed a soft kiss on the tan forehead, before dressing and leaving without looking over his shoulder.

* * *

A week had passed, and they were no closer than to finding their son since the day he was taken from them. Hopeless and lost, they clung to each other, it was all they knew how to do. Tala had stayed with them, looking just as lost and hopeless as the days rolled by. He and Kai had exhausted all their resources to search for Kain, always coming up with nothing for their efforts. It had become tiring, frustrating, and it didn't help the tension that was starting to loom over their heads.

Tala straightened his back, having been bent over Kai's shoulder as he looked along with him at the computer screen. Having gone through files upon files of old and new employees of Hiwatari Enterprises, once again nothing was of any help.

"Maybe we should call Bryan back…" Tala whispered, and Kai's back tensed at the suggestion.

"Why?" He sneered back, his eyes turning dark.

"Maybe he'll have a better idea of where they took him, or at least who was behind this whole thing."

"He said he didn't know where they took him." Kai bit back.

"Let me go then, I'll see if he'll tell me something. There has to be a reason he did this, please Kai?" Tala begged, something he was never prone to do before.

"I can't stop you from doing what you want, you've been free to stay or go as you please." He released a breath of air, resting his back against his chair as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes, stilling his rising temper.

"That's not what I meant… I couldn't leave you two to deal with this alone… I couldn't deal with it alone, but I think Bryan will tell me without you two around." Tala sighed out, shaking his head as he lent back on the desk.

"Do what you want Tala, but it won't change the fact that he has betrayed us. Regardless of his reasoning's." Kai's tone turned cold, and he glanced sideways to meet Tala's eyes.

"I never said I was going to forgive him, I can't." Tala chewed his bottom lip, holding Kai's gaze for a second longer before he adverted his gaze to the opening of the study. "Ray?" Tala called, having just noticed him standing there in the open archway.

Kai's head shot up the second he heard his lover's name pass Tala's lips, his eyes sweeping over him quickly and landing on a small brown box being clutched to Ray's chest. He was shaking as he stood there, tears were rolling down his face, but he didn't move any further than the archway. Bolting up from his chair, Kai swept over to where Ray stood. His eye's quivering as tears threatened to spill as they locked onto the box in Ray's hands.

"I… I can't open it…" Ray's voice cracked, as he held the box out to Kai, his arms shaking.

"Go sit down." Kai ordered in a calm tone, willing his voice not to break as he took the box.

Ray nodded as he took a seat on the leather arm chair, holding his hands together as his right leg started to bounce without him willing it to. Tala came over and sat on the arm rest of the chair, pulling Ray's shaking form in an embrace around his shoulders. Both looking up to where Kai now stood before them, his eyes not leaving the box in his hands.

He hesitated, swallowing the lump in his throat before gently pulling the lid away, letting it drop to the floor by his feet. Ray held his breath, the air growing thin and it became harder for any of them to breathe as Kai's face paled slightly. Slowly he reached in, cradling the box in one arm, and pulled out a piece of paper. The box crashed to the floor, holding the paper in both hands as he held it close to his face.

His eyes danced over the writing quickly, once, twice, a third time before he pulled it back down and handed it over to Ray. Ray froze, his eyes going from the paper to Kai's until he reached out and took it. Tala's grip tightened on his shoulders as he peered over Ray to read the paper along with him, their hearts had stilled for a second.

Ray looked up from the paper back up at Kai, tears coming out in full force as a smile crossed his lips as he released his breath of air. Tala too released a breath of air, taking a hand and placing it over his chest to still his nerves.

"He's alright…" Ray's voice was still cracking, but there was hope in his tone.

Kai simply nodded, a small smile gracing his features.

"He won't be for long though…" Tala managed to say.

Ray flipped the paper over in his grasp, the light catching it and he could see lighter writing between the bold letters of the message. Not even his keen eyesight could fully read the tiny print, and he looked back up at Kai with more hope than he had ever shown the past week.

"There's a hidden message in this note, do you have any candles?" Ray's voice picked back up, no longer the weak man he was moments before.

Kai nodded again, sweeping out of the room quietly as he headed for the kitchen. Tala watched him leave, and peered back over Ray's shoulder at the paper. They studied the paper in Ray's hands again until Kai came back with a candle, their anticipation overwhelming them as Kai lit the candle having placed it on the corner of his desk. Ray handed the paper to Kai, standing on the tips of his toes as Kai held the paper over the flame. The bold letters fading out into the back of the paper, smaller light-colored words appeared around them.

'Dad's, I'm alright. I can't come back to you right now, dogs won't let up and I can't get away fully. They have the house being watched, and I can't get to you yet because of that. If I go back, they'll just attack us again. Bryan is keeping me safe right now, he's the one that delivered the box to your doorstep. Don't pay attention to the previous message on this page, it means nothing. Bryan is playing the part of my kidnapper for now, but I'm not out of trouble just yet. They want to lure you two back to where they're keeping me, I don't know where that is though. Don't come, ignore that message at all costs. In three days, Bryan will come back to you and then he'll bring you to where I am. Come alone, don't bring uncle Tala. Do not come armed, just bring Dranzer and Driger. They won't suspect that, I have to go now though. I love you two'

Ray's eyes swelled with new tears and he gripped onto Kai's forearm that held the paper, reading the hidden message again before he let out a shaky breath. Kai's muscles relaxed as did Tala's, having read Bryan was on the right side tugged at his heart.

"Three days…" Ray breathed out, wiping his face with the back of his arm. "I still don't understand why Bryan is doing this…" He shook his head slightly.

"I wish I knew too… I know he said not to come, but how am I supposed to stay back?" Tala asked through gritted teeth.

"You _will_ stay back, I don't need you to jeopardize my son's life further." Kai's voice was cold as he spoke, pulling the paper away from the flame of the candle.

"In case you forgot, I wasn't a part of this. I've been here trying to help." Tala bit back.

"That's not what he meant Tala, if Kain said for you not to come it's best you don't. We appreciate you helping us, truly we do, but we need to listen to what Kain instructed. I know this can't be easy for you, not knowing Bryan's true intentions and all. This is our son's life though, being dangled in front of us right now. Please understand." Ray had turned to him; a pleading look in his sad golden eyes.

"Alright…" Tala sighed out before walking away, leaving the two in the study alone as he retreated to his room.

"That means you can't bring any weapons." Ray turned to Kai, who looked to be deep in thought.

"Bringing our blades isn't going to protect us…"

"It's what Kain said to do, trust him." Ray placed the hand he had been holding to Kai's forearm on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"What if this is a trap? How do we even know he wrote this? It could have been Bryan or the people who took him. The main message says where they are, and what we should do. I have the money they're asking for, it'd be a lot simpler if we did what the first message asks of us."

"No, we can't do that. I know you didn't get to know him, but this is his handwriting, he wouldn't lie to us. You have to have a little more faith in our son, he knows what he's doing." Ray protested, his hand gripping Kai's shoulder a bit tighter. "Three days is going to kill me, just as much as you, but we have to do what he says. Please, no weapons." Ray pleaded again, his eyes boring into Kai's.

"I don't know if I can do that Ray…"

"Kai, please. I'm begging you, I understand how you feel but please trust him." Ray's grip tightened as a small amount of anger was starting to froth forth in his stomach. "Trust _me_."

Kai stared back, going back into his thoughts for a moment before he nodded his head. He didn't like the idea of just being armed with a simple toy, even if it held a great bit-beast within it. What was his son thinking? He willed himself, with all he had, not to go against Kain and Ray's demands. The main message on the note made more since than Kain's did, all they wanted was money. Holding his son for ransom, he had the money, but part of him wondered why that was all they were after. They went great lengths to attack him and his family, kidnap his son even. Just for money, and then where did Bryan play into this? He mused to himself.

"Alright. We'll do it his way then." He finally spoke, coming out of his thoughts as Ray had squeezed his shoulder again.

"Promise me?" Ray pleaded, his eyes boring into Kai's as if he was seeking out a lie in his words.

"I promise." Kai breathed out.

"Thank you." Ray sighed out, his hand dropping to his side as he released his hold on Kai.

"I can't promise you that I won't beat the piss out of Bryan, when I see him though." Kai's voice turned cold and threatening again as he started away from Ray.

"I won't hold you back." Ray said with a slight chuckle, getting a grin in response over Kai's shoulder.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

Three days, it seemed so close and so far away; until the day came. We weren't happy, we weren't excited to be going. We were nervous, apprehensive and Ray was sick to his stomach. I don't blame him, he's never had to do something like this. He tried to keep busy best he could around the house, knowing we were being watched he tried to act normal, but I could see his nose turn up and snarl every now and then. His pupils would slit, he'd bare his fangs whenever he walked by a window. I don't know if he ever saw them, or if that was just a reaction he had. I never asked, and he never said.

When Bryan came, late into the night, my fist became well acquainted with his face. It took all I had in me not to beat his life out of him, eventually though I had to stop and let him up. He didn't say anything to us, communicating with motions of his head and eyes. We followed him outside to the awaiting van down past the gates, Tala hadn't come out from his room to see him. Ray had gripped onto my arm the entire walk to the van, I had to put on a front. If they were still watching us, I couldn't look weak towards them.

I know I promised Ray, normally I don't break my promises; not to him least of all, but I did. I brought my smallest gun with me, hidden securely in the tops of my boot. Dranzer was tucked safely in my pants pocket, I still have no idea why we're putting our trust in our blades but here we are. Kain's right, it won't look suspicious, but what can it do for us? If aimed right, a beyblade could seriously injure, the bit-beast could kill if you willed it to. There's still not a lot of protection from them though, they can't stop bullets or knives from gutting you out.

We climb into the van, it's all black in and out. There are no back windows, it's one of those van's you know belong to some shady people, but we get in it anyways. As we sit in the back, there are no seat here it's just open space, Ray holds my hand tighter and his shaking is becoming uncontrollable now. His nails are digging into my flesh, but I don't dare pull away from him. If he feels he can trust me to protect him, I won't let him believe otherwise; because I will protect him.

The anticipation is bubbling and slowly rising, I can see it in his eyes and the way his back stiffens. Bryan hasn't said a thing to us, nor we him. The tension in the air is gagging us right now, but what else is to be expected? I can't see past the front seats out the windshield, and there are no windows, so I don't know where we're going. It's a long drive, longer than I was anticipating. Ray's emotions got the better of him and he fell asleep against my shoulder, every now and then his hand would twitch, or his eyebrow would raise and fall as he dreamt.

The van came to a stop, it was slow and careful, so it hadn't woken Ray up. I nudged him awake as Bryan exited the driver's seat, we had to wait for him to open the sliding door for us as there was no handle on the inside. Ray went to leap forward from the inside of the van, but I pulled him back, they could have just been waiting for us to step out and kill us the moment they saw us.

"I'll go first." It was a command, and he released my hand and I stepped out.

Slowly and carefully I got out of the van, peering around me in the darkness to see if I recognized anything. Nothing, it was pitch black where we were. I could feel the sturdiness of the gravel under my boots, so we weren't out in the middle of nowhere. A light flickering on in the distance caught my eye behind Bryan, and my head shot up to where the light was coming from. It was high up there, glowing against the darkness of the night. We were near a building, a tall one at that.

"Ray." I called out, holding my hand out to him without looking away from the light, trying to press my eyesight against the darkness to see if I could make out anything else important.

His hand came down into mine again and I pulled him from the inside of the van, his golden eyes roaming his surroundings quickly. His pupils were already slit, and his hair was sticking on end. His neko side already coming out and we weren't even in the face of the real enemy yet, he's going to tire himself out if he keeps it up, but I don't voice my opinion to him.

Bryan motions for us to follow him, and I lead Ray behind me. His hand isn't as tight in my as it was before, it's loosened around mine. It's a good thing too, in case we need to reach for our blades or protect us. I won't use the gun unless I absolutely need to, part of me is trying to hold out hope that Kain's plan would work.

Lights flood the opening of the building as we step closer, the glass doors to the building gliding open as we near them. Stepping through, my eyes darting every which way about us. It's a foyer, painted crisp and white. Polished floor tiles, the odd potted plant here and there along the walls. A receptionist desk at the opposite side of the room, elevators lining the walls that incase us. I recognize this place, it's my place of work, Hiwatari Enterprises. Ray seems to take notice, even though he hasn't been here in five years. I never changed the way it looked since then, so it wasn't a surprise he caught on.

Bryan leads us to an elevator, picking the very last one on the right wall. He presses and holds the button down, it lights up under his thumb and I can feel the air in my lungs tighten. Every elevator, but one, leads all to the same floors as elevators do. This one, this particular elevator leads to my office. It's the only one that does so, and another wave of tension hits me as I make that realization.

The doors open and we all slide inside; Ray's trembling is now nonexistent. He's just as tense as I am, ready to kill if need be. He doesn't look at anything in particular, but he never once glances at Bryan or in his general direction. I can't say the same for me, I've been eyeing the shady bastard the second we got into the elevator. He just stands there, emotionless and unreadable as always.

The elevator ride is fast, it has to be because my office is on the last, 35th, floor. The door's slide open and Bryan steps out, I hold Ray back again as I step out first. All lights are on, nothing looks undone or touched that would indicate foul play. Everything is where it should be, the circle of sofas in the middle of the room. The odd potted plants that Tala insisted on putting in there, his desk at the far-left corner of the door. My desk, right against the window on the right of the room. The leather chair behind my desk is spun around so we can't see the person behind it, though I can see their arms on the armrests on the sides.

I beckon Ray to me once more, this time I don't hold out my hand as we'll need them both now. The air in the room isn't as tense as it should be, but there is anger in my stomach and my blood pressure is rising. Once Ray had come and stood beside me, Bryan walked over to the desk and stood beside it. His hands crossed in front of him, and he set his back straight. If he was supposed to look intimidating, it didn't work. Not with those bruises and blood stains I left on his face, his eyes are hard and trying to stare us down but that's also not as intimidating, since one is halfway swelled shut.

"Where's my son?" Ray steps forward, the silence that had loomed over us was too long for him to wait it out.

I reach to pull him back, but he slips through my fingers, standing in the middle of the room. I rush over to him, he doesn't know what he's doing. Any wrong move and we could be killed on the spot, standing out in the open like that was foolish of him and I could have smacked him for doing such a stupid thing. A slight, hearty, laugh comes from behind the chair across from us.

"Your grandfather, bless his soul, had a dream young Kai. That dream was never fully reached, thanks to your _friends_. Not once, but twice were his dreams crushed by your little ramble of bladers. The first world champions when that Japanese oaf beat Tala, to when the same Japanese boy took down BEGA. You had done something right for once, under the guise of wanting to battle that boy again. You failed, all you are is a failure to your grandfather's legacy and name."

He pauses for a second, his voice is old and rough. If he was a follower of my grandfather he was old, and I could hear it in that voice of his.

I can see Ray tense beside me, he doesn't know that, yes, I did go back to my grandfather then. I did join BEGA because he told me to, it wasn't to fight Tyson again for a stupid title. It was because he wanted me to kill them and take their bit-beasts again, wanted me to end them all right then and there. Boris was still working for Voltaire, that whole spiel of him turning a new lead, all rubbish and lies; that man has never once spoken the truth in his life.

I obviously didn't do it, I didn't kill them all like my grandfather wanted or take their bit-beasts. I couldn't, as annoying and stupid as the others were, I couldn't do that to them. They had been my friends, they showed concern for Tala over the course of him being in a coma. How could I have done that to them, to Ray? My battle against Brooklyn, the first time was to show me just how powerful the experiments had gotten. All that shit about natural talent, a farce. He had been enhanced by Boris, I tried to stop him, but I failed the first time. Second time, I was almost killed in my attempts to stop him. When I did, he became more unbalanced and became useless to Voltaire.

"Then… To spite your grandfather more, what do you do? You fornicate with a _man_ , a man of no background and no standing of any kind. You disgraced your grandfather's name, your name. We tried, we did, to make sure these things didn't happen the way they did. Your toy, your _pet_ , didn't listen though. He didn't listen to the warnings we set out for him, he wanted to test us. How has that worked out for you, in the long run? What did defying us bring you?" Ray stiffens again as he's now the subject of conversation, but I don't dare look away from the back of that chair.

"Luck would have it though, his filthy heritage graced us with our answer. We were a little more than excited to see the Hiwatari line continue, in the form of your son. Though, your pet ran away. That didn't do us any good, how could it when your grandfathers dream had yet to be fulfilled? He gave you the company, to keep you distracted. He knew you would use everything in your power to find your pet, but the workload he left on your shoulders became overbearing." The old man knows too much, but everything he is saying is common knowledge to most of those who were close to Voltaire. It also leaves out Bryan and what he has to do with this all, he's still just standing there by the desk.

"It took some time, but we found your pet after he came running back here. Thanks to Bryan here." He waves a hand towards where Bryan is, it juts out from behind the back of the chair and I can see Bryan tense at this. Why?

"Don't be too mad at him young Kai, it's not like we gave him much of a choice to do this for us. Family… Family is a strong bond young Kai, something your grandfather tried to instill in you, but you kept breaking that bond. You pushed him away, like he was nothing. For what? He made you who you are, who you were to become and without him you would have been nothing. You CHOSE to be nothing, for the sake of NOTHING!" The man's anger rises, but he has yet to show us his face.

"Your son is safe, for now. We've been keeping a close eye on him while he's been under our care, he's not been harmed in anyway. He's actually been very compliant in the orders we give him, smart boy you have young Kai. He must have been taught the value of what family means, though he wouldn't have learned that from _you_. He's more than eager to see your grandfather's dreams come true, he wields Black Dranzer with such force and anger. I can only think that some of that anger, is directed at his fathers. Lying to him the way they have, not trusting him enough to make his own decisions." He sneers, and my blood runs cold.

All this time, has been about wielding that damn blade again? Their first plan was to kill Ray, but because he became useful to them, this is what it came down to?! It wasn't some rival company of mine, no this was personal in their eyes; because it damn well was! The moment Kain took hold of that damn blade, he would no longer be able to control himself, that much I knew. The anger this old buffoon speaks of, is probably true but I don't have any words to make it better. It was more directed towards Ray than myself anyways, but that just pisses me off more. I've forgiven him for what he did, he did what he thought was right. All I can be thankful for, is that we found each other again, because it doesn't seem like even if he had stayed we would have been safe.

That still leaves one question, where does Bryan of all people, fit into this?!


	11. No End, No Beginning

**Author's Note:**

 **This is the second to last chapter, as this story is coming to a close to make way for the sequel. YAY!**

 **Expect blood, death, all that fun stuff here and the next chapter. As always, thank you to my readers and those who have reviewed. Hopefully the ending doesn't fall off a cliff.**

 **The name of this chapter is another song from Poets of the Fall, I suggest you listen to it as it paints a broader picture of everything and will set up the sequel.**

 **As always, enjoy. The last chapter is already written, and will be up by the weekend.**

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

Bryan stiffens as the chair slowly turns around, Ray makes an audible snarl and I can feel my blood rise in anger at the sight before me. Boris. He rests his elbows on my desk, leaning his chin in the dip his hands have created. There's that smirk on his lips, as the gleam in his eyes bear down on us across from him. Ray goes to move but my hand clamps down on his arm, stopping him from taking more than three steps. It makes sense, he was always Voltaire's right-hand man; even in death it seems. What I still don't get, is Bryan, where does he fit into this?

"Ah, young Kai. It's so good to see you after all these years, it's been what? Five years or so since we last saw each other? The day we laid your dear grandfather into the earth, yes, that was the last time we had seen each other." He starts, and I narrow my eyes at him.

Yes, I remember you being there you old bastard. I also remember every other member of Voltaire's elite circle being there, Tala and Bryan were there with me. Something clicks, and I glance my way over at Bryan, back to Boris in front of me. Boris smirks at me, as if he realizes that something's clicked in my head. The more I look, the more I realize the similarities between the two.

The lavender hair, the pale skin. The way Bryan's face has become more rugged and more pointed over the years of him aging. Give or take a few different features of their faces, Bryan would have been the spitting image of Boris at this age. I never saw it when we were teenagers, the thought would have never crossed my mind back then simply because I wasn't looking. Bryan had told us he was an orphan, and that wasn't uncommon in the Abbey.

"As I said Kai, family is a strong bond." Boris sneers, and I glare harder. "As I said, don't blame him too harshly for what he's done. I didn't give my poor son much choice in the matter, he knew if he disobeyed me again his own little pet would have suffered." He means Tala, but that doesn't stop the anger I still have towards Bryan.

He should have come to us, told us what was going on and trusted us to make things right before they got to this. I trusted him, I had him when I needed him through everything and he should have done the same.

"He helped orchestrate the attacks, the one that landed you in the hospital for months, that was all Bryan's doing, under my command of course. You see, even though your grandfather had given you reigns of the company, he still had a dream. I was tasked with carrying out that dream, Bryan may have worked for you, but he would always be loyal to his own father. As I mentioned before, we didn't want it to come down to this. Our plans changed and shifted many, many times over the years. I had to bring in my dear nephew to bed you, hoping you'd spill your secrets, along with tasking him to find your son." Ray snarls again, the mention of Gabriel is causing my own form of growl to escape my throat.

Bryan and Gabriel were both related to Boris, so this wasn't rivaling companies, this was all personal. At least knowing that, made things less complicating. All this time, those rivaling companies were just another farce to keep me on my toes; while the real enemy had been in front of me all along.

"It's a good thing that your son ran away when he did. After we were able to make sure we had everything we needed, we would have killed your pet the following month and taken your son regardless. But, once again our plans shifted as Kain got to you before we could do anything. The attack, the one that happened his first few nights with you, was planned by us again. You're a tough man to keep down, Kai. Then, luck would have it your pet ran from China to get his son back. We changed our plans again, and again. Then, it came to me. It was so simple and easy. You two both knew Gabriel, he would be the ultimate one to bring you both down. Little did I know; your pet knew how to kill. Such a shame really. He was my favorite nephew after all." His eyes land on Ray and he narrows them, he was the one to kill Gabriel.

As much as I had wanted to, it was Ray who had done it. I'm not mad at him, in fact I'm proud of him for being able to protect himself. Though, that's only going to irk Boris off more.

"I don't like getting my hands in more of a mess than they need to be. So, you two brought your blades as requested by your son?" He sits back into my chair, but leaves his arms over the top of my desk.

We both nod to him, but I also have my gun and that would be more satisfying than using Dranzer on this piece of shit. Before either of us can move an inch, the door behind us opens. Ray gasps as he spins around, I slightly turn and meet my son's gaze. My heart stops, he doesn't look harmed, he looks fine but there's a darkness in his eyes. Boris lets out some sort of chuckle behind us, as we've both turned to our son fully.

"K… Kain? Oh my god Kain, are you alright?" Ray rushes over to him, but stops before he can reach out and hold him.

Kain backed away, hanging his head to where his bangs covered his eyes, but I can still see the darkness across his face. I know that look, I know it all too well as it was the kind I had when I wielded Black Dranzer.

"You brought Driger… Right dad?" Kain's voice is cold, and Ray bites his lip but nods slowly.

"Yes… I did… I did what you said to do, but why?" Ray manages to say, though I can tell he's nervous now.

"You three are going to battle, how's that sound?" Boris brings our attention away from Kain back to him, and out of habit I cock an eyebrow at the old man.

What?! There's no fucking way I'm doing that, nor is Ray or Kain. I can shoot you right now and be done with this, but I have yet to go for my gun. That would be too easy, something else is up his sleeve and just that little bit of uneasiness is what's keeping me from doing so.

"If you refuse, we'll just kill you both now. If that's what you'd like to happen." Boris continues with the same smugness he's had all this time. "I have the place surrounded, so there will be no escape for any of you. Kain would of course step out unharmed, but the same cannot be said for the two of you." And there it is, that uneasiness I've had.

"I don't understand, you want us dead. You can't expect Kain to do that to us." Ray scoffs, he must have forgotten what wielding Black Dranzer can do to one's mind; that's not our son love, he hasn't been for a week now.

"I think you'll soon find that out on your own." Boris sneers with a grin, then motions for Bryan to step forward.

He comes up to me, pulling a gun from his back and places it to the side of my head. I don't move, or flinch at the cold metal. All I can do is sneer and growl in my throat at him, if I move he'll shoot. Kain doesn't respond in the least bit, to him it doesn't matter now whether I'm killed; if Ray is killed.

"You'll be going first, dear Raymond." Boris stands, and Bryan presses the gun into my head further causing me to follow behind Boris and my family.

Ray is only complying because he doesn't want me to be shot, and I can't go for my gun because it's all the way down in my boot. I should have put it in my waist band or somewhere closer, but no, I had to hide it from Ray when I brought it and my boot was the best option at the time. I'm not fast enough to reach down and grab it, not with that gun to my head.

We enter the elevator and rid down it, the tension is getting thicker and Kain hasn't looked up once even though Ray is standing almost on top of him. Boris still has that smugness on his face, and I catch something in Bryan's eyes for a moment but just as quickly as I saw it appear, it's gone. If I wasn't me, I would have been sweating bullets by now or locked up. I am me though, and I don't do any of those things. I keep my mouth shut, because I know it's for the best. They have the situation right now, and I just have to wait till I can get a foot in the door and take over.

We exit the elevator back in the main lobby, walking down out of the building into the darkness. It's starting to fade into day, the light from the morning sun is barely coming over the city landscape and the woods that incase the area of my work. Boris keeps walking, towards the woods and we follow. Kain directly behind him with Ray by his side, I'm behind them as Bryan keeps the gun now at the back of my head. As we walk I glance around, I can't see the other men Boris claims there are around us. I don't sense them, and I don't think Ray has either.

Boris leads us into the woods, into a small clearing where there's a simply red beydish sitting in the middle of the snow. He walks around to the side of it, while Kain takes a spot at the right and Ray hesitates to take the spot across from him. I don't know Kain's power when it comes to blading, he said he was given Driger from Ray, but Black Dranzer is different. Even if he was a weak blader, Black Dranzer can, and will, do damage.

"Ready?" Boris begins, Kain takes out the launcher and the all too familiar black and green blade I know.

Ray's eyes shift to Boris, Kain, and then me. He looks at me pleadingly but all I can do is nod. I can't do much with this gun to the back of my head, and if there are others out here I can't do much about them either. Ray and I will be shot dead if I move, until it's my turn. Ray was a strong blader, something I had always admired him for, but I know he can't stand against Black Dranzer. He didn't when I had control over it, and he had Tyson on his side at the time. I'm rendered useless as he takes out Driger, setting it in his launcher and takes his stance. For a moment he looks like his teenage self, but instead of that confident look he always had back then, he looks weary and unsure. If he's going to survive, he'll have to bring our son near death.

"What's the catch here?" Ray sneers, glancing at Boris who is standing on his left.

"Simple, you battle Kain."

"And if I win?" Ray continues, his lips curling in a snarl.

"You won't." Boris chuckles. "I'll humor you though, if you win you're all free to go. Surely once the battle is done, Kai would have killed us all anyways." He shrugs his shoulders as he speaks, shaking his head slightly but that smirk is still on his lips.

If Ray wins or not, you're all dead regardless. I don't voice my opinion, but I've noticed the gun against my head has slightly lost pressure. Kain will do what he's told now, he'll do all he can to kill his father, all because of that damn blade!

"Ready?" Boris looks between the two, they nod at him and he starts the count down.

My breath catches in my throat, they pull back the cords to their launchers and the blades careen into each other in the middle of the dish. Upon impact there's a shockwave that pushes us all back, smoke is already billowing out from the center of the dish blocking our views of the battle. We can hear the metal scrapping on each other and I look over at Ray, he's still standing but more in a low crouch as he's braced himself. Kain is standing tall, his body unwavering as his focus is all in battling his father.

The smoke is taken away by a breeze, and my line of sight goes straight to the blades on the inside rim of the dish. Black Dranzer isn't letting up against Driger, the metal colliding is causing slight sparks to fly out and the grinding is almost deafening. Ray pulls himself upright once more, calling for Driger to attack and the blade does as its master commands. Ray wasn't known for his speed for no reason, Driger completely vanishes from in front of Black Dranzer and I can see Kain's eyes go wide for a minute as he's trying to scope the dish for Driger.

Kain's body gets tossed a bit to the left, as Driger came back for the attack and hit Black Dranzer with a powerful blow. Before Kain can get in another attack, Ray has Driger disappear once more in a blur of white until he comes back, again and again from all directions. The anger and darkness crossing our son's face grows, there's a slight smog of black that's rising from his feet and is circling his body. His breathing has become erratic, his pupils have slit, and he bares his fangs.

"ENOUGH!" Kain shouts, throwing out his arm and the fog that's around him juts out and hits Ray square in the chest, sending him back a bit on his back in the snow.

His blade takes the hit, but it doesn't leave the dish or stop spinning; he's still in this stupid game. Ray struggles to pull himself up but he eventually gets back to his feet and hovers over the dish, holding his right arm with his left. His breathing is picking up, much like Kain's, and he sports the same facial features as him as well. They stare each other down and I can still see the uneasiness in Ray's eyes for having to battle our son, but there's a flash in them and he calls for another attack.

"What?!" Kain gasps out, his body falling to the ground as if he's been knocked out by a punch.

Driger had landed another attack against Black Dranzer, sending the black blade closer to the edge of the dish. It takes less than a second for Kain to stand again, and the fog that's around him thickens and the air around us stills. It almost looks like the kind that Brooklyn had around him, when I bladed with him, which means that they have subjected Kain to some kind of experiments while he's been here. No matter how small of an experiment it has been, it's taken its toll on his body and mind; that's not our son anymore.

Ray lets out a battle cry, Driger following his masters pleas the bit that holds him glows and Driger appears above our heads. He wants to finish this, and I don't blame him, I want him to finish this, but I also want them both to survive this. I can feel myself step forward, without willing my feet to and Bryan presses the gun closer to the back of my head and I stop. Kain lets out his own cry, Black Dranzer screeches out as he's released from his bit and he towers over the white tiger like it's nothing.

The two beasts collide above our heads, Driger's fangs sinking down in Black Dranzer's legs and the great bird screeches out before he starts to flap his wings violently to get away, it causes a gust of wind and Ray blocks his face with his arms to avoid the wind getting in his eyes. That momentary reaction has left him open and Kain orders another attack, the blades clash again in the center of the dish and another shockwave hits us. This time the gun drops into the snow and Bryan doesn't reach to pick it up, but I still don't move. There are still others around here, at least I think so, and I will not be the reason Ray is shot.

The shockwave has knocked Ray to his knees and he's panting for air, his hair has come undone around him and I can't see his face past his bangs. What I can see, is that his arms are shaking, his breath is causing mist to appear in the air. Kain looks just as stable as when he had started this battle, and right then is when I realize who will win.

The sky above us claps with thunder, lightning crosses the sky as it gets slightly darker and the wind has picked up slightly. This is Ray's last defense, Driger is still battling it out with Black Dranzer but I can see the white tiger is losing ground, and fast. Lightning bolts come down around us, but they don't strike us. They hit a few trees and they crack and pop under the hits, the ground shakes as some fall over from being hit. A bolt has hit Black Dranzer and he releases Driger from his beak, but the tiger is too weak to attack again, and he just lets out a roar. A final roar at that, as three more bolts of lightning come down and strike the bird.

Black Dranzer screeches, Kain lets out a yell of pain and then fire is mixed with the fog around his body and it all comes hurling out of him. The mixture heads straight for Ray, who is still on his knees in the snow unable to move. I go to run in front of him, but Bryan clasps a hand on my wrist and I can't pull away fast enough. The mixture hits him in the chest, sending him flying back and he lands and skids a few feet away from the dish until his head hits a fallen down tree. Driger lets out a cry and I look up in time to see his body is also covered in the mixture of fire and smoke, and then he bursts into gold lights and vanishes. His blade is knocked out of the dish with such force it crashes through a tree, embedding into it until it stops spinning completely.

"RAY!" I struggle against Bryan and he releases me, I run over to him as fast as I can.

Behind me I can hear Boris laugh, Kain calls back Black Dranzer and from the familiar sound I know he's already reset the blade in his launcher. I don't look back as I pull Ray's limp head into my arms, up close I can see the burn marks on his tan skin. The cuts that run along his cheeks and arms, his shirt is slightly torn and ripped and there's a gush of blood seeping out the side of his right hip. His breathing is slow, but at least he is breathing at all. With my hand behind his head I can feel the wetness of blood on my fingers, my heart stops for a second before I can recollect myself.

I have never seen him this badly torn down, not in any beybattle he's been in, none of them have resulted in this before. Not against me, not against Crusher or Dunga. His battle against Bryan, wasn't even this bad. That kind of damage seems like child's play to what he has now, and this was all done from his own flesh and blood; his son.

I pull my coat off, and put it around him before gently lowering him into the snow being mindful of the wound on his head. I have to get this over with quickly, if I want to get him to the hospital before I lose him for good. Boris is clapping as I step up, that smirk on his face still ever present as I take my stance across from my son. He lifts his arms, and I check him over quickly while I lift my own blade above the dish.

His arms are cut in thin lines, blood is seeping through them and I can see has a few cuts along his cheeks and across his eyes. There's a very large prominent cut that runs diagonally across the middle of his face, over the bridge of his nose from his left brow to the right corner of his upper lip. Our eyes lock on to the other's, and we stare at each other until Boris does the count down.

Our blades fly into the dish, I avoid colliding with him and go behind his blade. He cocks an eyebrow at my tactic, but soon a smirk graces his lips and blood seeps down his chin. I don't falter, I know what I'm doing, and I will Dranzer to wait it out and let him make the first move. I leave Dranzer spinning behind his blade, spinning against the side of the dish closest to him and he notices but goes on the attack anyways.

A mere inch away I have Dranzer go to the side, and he misses but quickly recovers before his own blade comes hurling out of the dish at him. He smirks again, and his eyes go from the dish to mine once more, and I see something flash in his eyes only for a second.

"That was rather cheap of you, _father_. Trying to get me to attack myself with my own blade? What a pity that didn't work." He sneers, and my blood runs cold. I have never seen him like this, and it scares me for a second until I get a hold of myself and call Dranzer to the center of the dish once more.

His blade meets mine, sparks fly as fire starts to surround our blades all together. I can see which flames belong to which bit-beast, Dranzer's are a pure red and yellow while Black Dranzer's are almost a dark crimson and deep yellow in color. The fog comes back around Kain's body, encasing his blade at the same time and he lets out a cry. His blade crushes into mine, and I wince from the impact. Being able to feel the pain from his attack and my body responds to it by tensing, catching myself before I stumble to the right.

I run game plans through my head a mile a minute, trying to think back to all my previous battles through my blading career. He has nothing on Tyson, or Brooklyn at this point. That beast has its claws so far into him, I can't break him loose unless I kill him now. I can't, I can't kill my own son. There has to be another way, but right now I don't see it. If I try to attack him with my own blade, that would do too much damage, and he'll catch on if I try to get his blade to attack him again. Right now, it feels as though I'm slowly running out of options, so I do the only thing I can do and that's keep the battle going until I can think of something.

I have him chase me around the dish, every now and then he catches up and our blades collide, sparks flare up each time. I pull back and I can see he's getting rather irritated with me and so is Boris, they're both becoming angry at the fact that I'm not as hurt as they were hoping I'd be or as exhausted as I should be. But I feel it, I feel every hit and every attack my son throws at me. It's leaving me breathless and my head is pounding with hot white pain, I'm just better at hiding it all when I'm battling. I am getting weaker though, and I need to wrap this up before Ray dies.

"DRANZER!" I call out, and my loyal beast comes out in all her glory.

Flames erupt, and the cold air leaves as it warms around us, flames jut out from her wings and she screeches out her battle cry. Her wings flap and cause a wind, it's not strong enough to knock us back but it causes the heat to flare up around us and the snow beneath our feet to melt. Kain makes a noise but then calls forth his beast, Black Dranzer is larger than Dranzer but that's never stopped her before. The two great birds collide, beaks and talons battle it out as their blades dance around each other.

The flames from Dranzer grow in size around her body and Black Dranzer backs away momentarily until Kain orders another attack, his flames mixed with the fog block out Dranzer's flames and they collide again. Dranzer lets out a painful screech as she's getting badly burnt, but I push her forward with another attack and she obeys me. The metal from the blades scream as they collide again, my blade over powering the black one to the edge of the dish. This time they're closer to the edge where Boris stands, I pull it back as does Dranzer and then will it to collide again. Using what little energy and force I have left, my blade crashes into Kain's, sending them both out and straight at Boris.

The flames from both blades follow, Dranzer releases Black Dranzer, just as I ordered her too, and she hurls her body straight for Boris. There's nowhere for him to run now, even if he tried. She catches him in her talons, holding him there and the two blades fly into him. My blade pushes itself through his chest, as Kain's goes through his head and out the other side. Both blades stop in the now melted snow, the fire and smog dying down as our bodies sway slightly.

Dranzer releases Boris's dead body and it slumps forward, he lands half in the beydish and half out of it. Black Dranzer had disappeared the second the blade stopped spinning, and Kain falls to his knees. His clothes are ripped, the cuts on his arms have widened and blood is pooling around him and down his pale skin. I sway slightly, but gather my footing and take a step forward until I gather the strength to run over to him and catch him before he falls completely in the snow.

Dranzer, my loyal friend has stayed outside her blade and she comes and lands behind me, her warmth is much appreciated as I don't have my jacket and out of battle my body is responding to the cold of the air again. Kain manages to look up at me, that darkness in his eyes is still there but he's too weak to make any move against me. Dranzer hisses as I hear the slosh of melted snow under someone's feet as they approach us, my head snaps around and my eyes fall on Bryan.

I had forgotten about him being there, I had been too focused on the battle, on Ray and Kain and their safety I didn't give him a second thought. My grip on Kain tightens and I narrow my eyes at him, he's holding his gun, but it's not directed at me. Dranzer closes her wings around us more, but leaves enough space to where I can still see him.

"I have to go, make sure no one else is around here. I took most of them out earlier, but there could be more. I called Tala, he's on his way here to get you three to the hospital." I simply nod to him, and he takes off running into the woods.

"Dranzer, go to Ray." I command quietly, and she hesitates for a second before going over to my lover, practically sitting down on him like he's an egg. The warmth from her will be enough to keep him from freezing, and the pressure will be good on his wounds.

I stand with Kain in my arms, he's getting weaker by the second and I place him against Dranzer's side. His head flops from one side as he tries to glare up at me, he's still not himself and I can see the darkness in his eyes. I walk away, going over to the black blade that's laying still in the melted snow. I pick up Dranzer's blade and place it back in my pocket, pulling my gun from the top of my boot and aim it at that forsaken black blade. A bullet pierces through the center bit, cracking it slightly and there's a loud screech and a scream from Kain.

I turn around, how could I have been so stupid?! Kain's holding his head, screaming in pain because he's still linked to the damn bit-beast. I could have just killed him, I wasn't thinking, and I put my gun away, snatching up the blade and bringing it over to him. It has to be close to him, otherwise it will kill him.

"Take it, dammit Kain, take the fucking blade!" I yell as he tries to wretch himself from my hold.

He reaches out with one hand, as the other is still attached to the side of his head and takes it in his hold. His body is shaking, but it's not from the cold. I could have just killed him, and his body is reacting to the slightly severed link between him and Black Dranzer. Once he has a better hold of the blade, his shaking isn't as strong, and he relaxes against Dranzer's side a bit more easily. I let out a sigh of relief, and rest beside them.

I chance a look behind me, Boris is still laying there dead and I manage a small smile at myself. It's done, we won, and we came out on top. All I have to do is wait for Tala to get here, though the longer it takes him the worst-off Ray will be. There's blood around his head and it's soaked into his hair, his breathing is still labored and shallow. I crawl over to him, gently placing his head in my lap and hold him there until Tala arrives.

* * *

 **I made Dranzer female, only because I've seen other's do so. I think she was female in the Japanese version? Not to sure, but I always felt that if she had a gender it would be female while Black Dranzer was male.  
**

 **So, how did you like it? Let me know if you loved it or hated it, I think it's one of my best chapters for this story so far.**

 **I'll see you all at the end of the week with the last chapter.**


	12. Dawn

**Author's Note:**

 **This ending, I made sure not to drop off a cliff. I'm actually very proud of it, as I am of this whole fic. It's become one of my favorites, and I can only hope my readers have enjoyed it just as I have.**

 **The chapter is once again a song by Poets of the Fall, Dawn. It speaks volumes for everything, and will set up what's to come in the sequel.**

 **Enjoy the show and I'll see you at the sequel.**

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

Everything went by in a rush, Tala was here, he was there. I dismissed Dranzer and helped Tala load Kain and Ray into the car, placing Kain up front while I kept Ray against me in the back. Having wrapped his head with a spare jacket Tala had brought, keeping him awake by talking to him. He wasn't coming in and out of consciousness like Kain was, who would every now and then mumble something in Chinese and go back out of it. I had made sure to put Driger back in Ray's pocket, but I don't think the strength from his bit-beast was enough to keep him fully there.

We didn't speak on our way to the hospital, but I could see the anger and frustration in Tala's eyes as he drove. When we reached the ER he practically pulled the car to the doors, ignoring the police standing there and telling us to move the vehicle, even drawing their guns at us until we pulled out the two wounded men from inside the car. They lowered their guns, and nurses and doctors rushed us the second we stepped inside the warm air of the hospital.

A doctor came to Tala, and they loaded Kain on a stretcher and took him off in a rush. I know I should let Ray go, I should lay him on that stretcher they brought out for him, but if I let go he'll die. Tala comes up to me and he's trying to get me to let Ray go but I can't, and I can hardly hear his words. My grip is getting tighter as doctors are now trying to pry my fingers from Ray's body; I didn't even notice the tears rolling down my cheeks.

Eventually he's out of my grasp, on that damn stretcher and is down the hall before I can fully process it all. Tala wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close to him, but his hands feel numb against me and I slump down to the ground.

* * *

I don't know how I got to the waiting room, everything is hazy, and my vision is blurred from the tears I've cried. Tala has yet to release my shoulders as we sit here, he hasn't said anything to me and no doctors or nurses have come to us yet. How long have we been sitting here? It feels like hours, days even. What day is it even? January seventh, I think. It's been four weeks since I've had Kain in my life, and three since I've had Ray back and I can't lose them; not now.

"Mr. Hiwatari?" I look up, from having buried my face in my hands for the time. A nurse stands over me, how long has she been standing there?

"What… What's going on?" I manage, though my voice is hoarse and dry from crying.

"Your son, he just came out and is now in recovery. However, Mr. Kon… He's sustained a lot more damage, internal bleeding with two broken ribs, they didn't puncture his lungs though so that's a good sign. His right arm is broken, while his wrist is fractured along with his fingers. It'll be a while before he can use them fully, he's still asleep from the morphine and other medications, but you're more than allowed to go and see them both. They're in the same room, as I've heard he is also your sons father?" She looks at me a bit confused and I nod.

"He's a neko-jin…" I breathe out, and she only looks more confused.

"Well, since learning that he was the one who birthed your son. We did a precaution pregnancy test, doctor's orders. It came back, positive. After that we did an ultrasound, couldn't make out much as he's only a few weeks along, but from what we could tell, and since there was no bleeding, the baby is fine." I must have gone paler than usual, and my whole body tensed up.

"Kai?" Tala whispers to me, but I can hear the nervousness in his voice all the same. I can only nod again, trying to process what the nurse just said to me.

Ray probably doesn't even know, I'm the first to find out about this. My mind reels back to the first night he was here, that's the only time it could have happened. There's no way it's Gabriel's they never slept together, I know he didn't lie to me about that, so it is my child. I will my legs to stand, Tala's hold releasing me as I do so. It takes me a minute before I can straighten myself out, and I nod to the nurse again for her to lead me to them. She smiles at me again and starts off, Tala stays back for now as I follow her down the corridor.

Every step comes down with the dead weight of my legs, my heart is racing and hurting my chest the closer we get to the door. She opens it and stands back, I hesitate in the door way before pushing past the privacy curtain and stepping inside. The beds that hold them are next to each other, Kain is awake and is starring at the wall across from him. He's got a cast on his left arm; his head is bandaged up and hiding the scar that's across his face. He's got other bandages wrapped around his arms, where I knew he would have other minor scars. He looks at me, but only for a second before looking away in shame.

I walk past him, over to Ray's bed. He's asleep with an oxygen mask over his face, his hair is bound up and out of his face. There's bandages all over him, along his arms and over his face. His breathing is coming in short, raspy breaths as the oxygen mask is doing most of the work for him. He's got IV's stuck in his right arm, and it's dripping the medicine and fluids his body needs. I pull a chair up beside the bed and sit in it, my eyes not leaving his face and I take his bruised hand in mine. I didn't even hear the nurse close the door and leave, Kain shifts uncomfortably on his bed and takes in a ragged breath before he speaks.

"I'm so sorry…" He begins, his voice cracking slightly and I glance up at him for a second. "This is all my fault… I… I told Bryan to take me that night, told him it would be better that way. I didn't know what they wanted, but I figured if I left than you two would be safe…" I look back down at Ray, but I'm still listening to him.

"Bryan made sure they didn't harm me, I know it may look like he was the bad guy, but please don't be too mad at him. It was my idea, I thought I could handle it. When that man… Boris? When he came to me, my first night there, he told me of his plans but left me no room to object. I did what they said, because he said you two would be killed on the spot if I didn't. That's how I knew they were watching the house, and I did what he said…" He takes in another breath, and wipes the tears from his face.

"The second he handed me that blade… I can't explain it, how it felt… But, I knew I never felt anything like it… That power it had, it was mine and I thought I could control it. It had been what, a week before I got my message to you? That wasn't really me who sent it though, yes, I wrote it but the other me wrote it too. I challenged you because I was told to, and because the other half of me wanted to. When I saw you two, I knew it was you and I wanted to scream out amongst the darkness, but I couldn't." I simply nod at his words, I know what it's like being handed that blade. How you can lose yourself to it just like that, I don't blame him for what he's done; he had no control over it, he thought he was trying to help.

"Say something dammit!" He yells at me, apparently my silence is getting to him. "Say something, I almost killed you two, I could _have_ killed you two! So, say something!" He starts to cry again, and he's looking at me and our eyes lock.

"I know what you're feeling, I felt it too when I was given Black Dranzer the first time. I don't blame you for getting warped into it, I tried to sever the bond but that will only kill you. You're tied to it now, and there's nothing we can do about it. You'll have to fight the darkness though, that's all you can do to make this right."

"What if… What if I can't?"

"You're going to have to try." I gave him a stern tone, which was surprising to me since I had just been a blubbering mess a second ago.

"What… What did the doctors say about dad?" He nods at my words before speaking, glancing down at his father in the bed beside him and I can see the pain and guilt wash over him.

"Nothing he hasn't pulled out of before." I chance a small smile and run a hand along Ray's cheek, he doesn't respond to the touch and it wasn't like I was expecting him to.

"I'm so sorry…" Kain breathes out again and rests against the upright portion of his bed, I let out my own sigh.

"Stop apologizing. He'll be fine." He only nods and closes his eyes, letting sleep take hold of him.

I pull back and rest against the chair, my eyes locked on Ray's sleeping form as Kain falls asleep a few seconds after having closed his eyes. Tala creeps into the room quietly and he follows me out into the hall, I tell him about Bryan and what had happened, and he looked to be on the verge of tears. Part of me is still angry, that he never told us Boris was his father and he was related to Gabriel. The other part of me understands, if it was reversed I would have done the same for Ray. Before Tala leaves, I give him my blessing to go back to Bryan as he secretly asked me without speaking the words, it was the look he gave me that prompted me to tell him and his eyes shone with what I can only describe as hope.

* * *

Two days later, the ninth of January, Kain was officially discharged from the hospital. I sent him home with Tala and Bryan as I became sort of a permanent resident of the hospital, I couldn't leave Ray's side for longer than thirty minutes, if he woke up he didn't need to wake up alone. The doctors kept me up-to-date on his progress, he was in a coma for the most part but the baby from what they could tell was just fine.

For a while I lost track of the time and days, Tala brought Kain a few times and each time he'd apologize again and again. The darkness that had been in his eyes was no longer there, but I could tell he was still struggling. Each time he'd leave I'd make sure to hug him, reassure him everything was alright, and he'd apologize to me again before leaving. Eventually the stress got to me and I dozed off, sitting by Ray's beside. I think it was the fifteenth now, but as I had said before, I lost track of the days.

I jumped, and a cold chill ran down my body, waking me from my much-needed sleep. When my eyes shot open they were met with pure golden ones starring right back at me, and my heart flipped into my throat until I swallowed it back down.

"Hey…" He started, a small smile over his lips.

"H… Hey…" I swallowed again, and leaned closer as I grasped his hand in mine.

"Where's Kain?" His eyes started to water with tears at the mention of our son.

"He's at home, with Tala and Bryan." His face turned red at the mention of Bryan. "It's fine, he's not the bad guy we thought he was. He kept Kain safe, he made sure we were safe, for good." I squeezed his hand gently, and he simply nodded and the anger that had crossed his face left him.

"What about you, how are you?" He looked me over, there was nothing anymore to indicate that I had ever been in a battle.

"That's the second thing you ask me, after waking from a coma?" I shake my head and chuckle at him.

"Sorry…" He pouts, and I laugh a bit harder.

"Don't be… I'm just happy to see you awake… You've been asleep for… I don't know how long. They were here a few hours ago, but it's late now so I sent them home."

"Ah…" Is all he manages before he tries to sit himself up, he winces a bit from the pull and tug of the IV still in his hand and I help him up until he's sitting against the now raised head portion of the bed.

"I'll call the nurse, or doctor."

"Don't, just let me relax a bit before they come in and start poking and prodding me." He sighs out, so I sit back down, this time on the edge of his bed facing him. My heart has yet to slow down, and my eyes dance all over him to make sure he hasn't pulled any of his stitches.

"The sooner they come in, the sooner we can get you home."

"Is it over though, like, for good?" It's like he didn't even hear my words, and he looks back at me with worry in his eyes.

"Yes, it is."

"What about Kain, Black Dranzer?" His tone carries his worries, but I don't outwardly show mine. I share his concerns, but I can't voice them to him yet.

"He'll be fine, we'll work through this." I cup his cheek in my hand, mindful of the bruising and bandages. He leans into it, closing his eyes and sighs.

"You're warm…" He mumbles, and I laugh again as he pushes closer into the palm of my hand.

"I'm always warm." He simply nods his head and presses his lips to my hand.

"I've missed it."

"I've missed you." I lean closer and kiss his forehead.

"I've missed you too."

* * *

After an hour of him being awake he allowed me to call the nurse and doctors in, they did what he feared and poked and prodded at him. They went over his vitals again and again until they were satisfied, ran a few more tests here and there until they gave him a clean bill of health. When the nurse told him he was pregnant again, his face had paled, and he looked at me in horror.

"I'm so sorry Kai."

"Don't be." I shrugged, the nurse having already left after giving him the news, saying that they'll keep him until the eighteenth and then we should be able to hear the heartbeat, just to make sure the baby was alright.

"But… You didn't ask for this, I should have been more careful. I'm so sorry."

"Ray, stop. It's not your fault, I didn't do what I should have done." I held a hand up and he shut his mouth.

"We're so old though… Oh my god, I'm not ready to parent a baby again." He huffed out, falling into the back of the bed's upper portion.

"Hey, we're only thirty-two."

"Only…" He huffed out and rolled his eyes. "We'll be fifty when the baby's eighteen…"

"So?" I laughed, a bit surprised he was the one acting so distraught and I wasn't.

"I'm going to have gray hairs before I'm 34…. Oh god, the terrible two's again, you weren't there for Kain… Be thankful for that." He palms his face and shudders.

"It'll be alright, I'll be there this time." He looks at me, as if I just grew two heads.

"You're serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be? It's my child, isn't it?"

"Well, duh! It certainly wouldn't be that shit faces kid." I smirk at the name he's given Gabriel and at his expression.

"Then there you go." I offer, but I don't think he's still getting it. "Fifteen years Ray, I waited for you for fifteen years. Why would I back out now? Unless, you don't want to be with me?" His eyes grow wide at that, and my smirk widens.

"NO! That's not what I'm saying. Of course I want to be with you, you dumbass. I just didn't think you'd be taking it so well…"

"Maybe it's the shock of you being awake, it might hit me once we get home and then I'll freak out." I simply shrug and now he laughs, and its music to my ears.

"Probably, how soon do you think we can get my stuff from China to your place?"

"Already been done." His eyes grow wider and his mouth just hangs open. "What?" I laugh at him, and he shakes his head.

"Nothing…" He rolls his eyes again and rests against the bed once more.

* * *

The next day Kain and Tala came back, I had to plead with Tala to keep Bryan at bay for now. Even though Ray seemed to understand, I didn't know how he'd react to seeing him so soon. Tala had been given strict instructions not to tell Kain about the pregnancy, and he was good on his word.

"R…Really?" Kain beamed, looking from Ray to me with an open mouth smile where both his fangs stuck out.

"Yes…" Ray nodded, almost sheepishly and ashamed.

"Ha! I knew it! I knew you two got together that night!" He jumps up and down, and I palm my face from embarrassment.

"Calm down before you rip your stitches." Ray hisses at him and immediately Kain stops his bouncing.

His cast is still on his arm, but the bandages have since been removed. The cut on his face has turned into a scar, and I think he's rather proud of it. The other smaller cuts aren't as noticeable, he's made a quick recovery and I can only be thankful for that.

"When do you get out?"

"Two days…" Ray huffs. He doesn't want to be here anymore, and he's tried to get out sooner, but I've stopped his attempts.

"That's not too far off, you'll survive." Kain waves his good hand at his father, with a playful smirk on his face and Ray just growls in his throat.

"I don't need your sass right now young man." Ray turns into father mode and glares at our son, Tala slightly chuckles behind Kain.

"But, it's the truth. You'll be out of here in no time, you'll see." Kain ignores him and sits on the empty bed that used to be his.

"And you're grounded, for life!" Ray snaps and Kain's face pales.

"What? No way! Why?"

"Because of this!" Ray gestures with his good hand to himself then to Kain.

"Oh…" Is all he can manage.

"I know why you did what you did, but honestly son… Don't ever do that again." Ray huffs out, and I smirk while Tala hides behind his hand to cover his laughter.

"Is it too late to say sorry?" Kain offers a bit sheepishly.

"We're WAY beyond that." Ray continues, I don't know why he's keeping this up but damn it's hysterical so I'm not going to stop it.

"Sorry?" Kain tries anyways, his voice slightly higher-pitched.

"Whatever, you're still grounded." Ray waves at his words, as if they don't mean anything.

The rest of the visit Ray calmed down more, and they went into idle chatter about nothing in particular. Kain was excited to be starting school soon, here in Russia. He had already called his friends back in China and told them everything that had happened in the past month, eventually Ray had fallen asleep and Tala left with Kain for the night. They came back on the seventeenth, but their trip was short and only lasted about an hour as Ray was starting to get sick from the pregnancy and he slept for most of the day. The eighteenth rolled around just as fast as Kain had said it would, and Ray sat there on his bed nervously.

The doctor and nurse rolled in the ultrasound device, it sat on a cart with all kinds of odds and ends of buttons. Ray already knew what they were doing and rolled his hospital gown over his stomach, making sure to keep the sheets just below his hips and he winced slightly as they put gel on his stomach.

"Cold…" He hissed, and the nurse gave him an apologetic smile before placing the wand to his skin.

I came up and stood beside his head, leaning slightly over him with my arm propped on the back of the bed as I watched the screen. I didn't know what I was looking for, or what I was even looking at. It was all just black and gray static with a large black hole in the middle of the screen, something gray appearing in the corner of it.

"There it is." The nurse cheered, pressing a few buttons on the machine and keeping the wand on Ray's stomach as still as possible.

I still don't know what it is she's referring too, the gray spot she's pointing to is so small I can hardly see it. Ray lets out a breath of air, he knows what it is apparently while I'm still trying to figure it out.

"Want to hear the heart beat now?" She offers, and Ray nods his head so fast I thought he'd rip his bandages that were still bound around his forehead.

The nurse smiles, presses a few more buttons and then there's a distinct noise coming from the machine. It's a weird sound, that's for sure. It sounds like it's coming through a tunnel at intervals, with a swooshing effect. Ray smiles and tears roll down his cheeks, he takes my hand that's leaning into the bed beside him and gives it a squeeze.

"That's the heart beat." He tells me, but it doesn't sound like one to me, so I simply nod like I understand.

"You're about six weeks, it looks like. Baby, so far looks just fine. Would you like a print out?" Ray nods again, a small squeal coming from his lips.

The nurse presses another button and the machine prints out a few pieces of paper and hands them to me. I look back at them, still not seeing what Ray is seeing but I guess this is our child? Then it hits me, like I knew it would. This is our child, _my_ child. My second child, with Ray, another child conceived out of our carelessness. I fall back down into the chair that I've made mine and kept to the side of Ray's bed.

"Finally sink in, did it?" Ray chuckles at me and I can only nod. "It'll be alright, it might not look like it right now but eventually it will look more like a little person." He offers, and I can only nod.

The nurse rolls the machine out without saying anything more, the doctor stays and I tune him out as he gives his instructions to Ray for his aftercare once he's able to leave. As I stare at the ultrasound pictures in my hands, I think I can finally see it. It's so small it's hardly recognizable as anything but a small blob at the moment, but that little blob is _my_ child. The panic that had settled within me fades and I smile, the doctor leaves and Ray takes my hand and I look up at him. He smiles at me and his eyes are shining brighter than I've ever seen them since he's woken up, and I can only smile back.

* * *

"Careful!" I panic, catching Ray as he slips on a sheet of ice on the stairs to the house.

"Thanks…" He sighs out, steadying his legs and holding onto my hand tighter before he gets the courage to take another step.

Kain is holding the door open for us, smiling at us as I try and help his father into the house without sending him back to the hospital. Luckily, I don't have problems walking on the ice and snow, but Ray is having way too much trouble; I should have carried him in, but he insisted he walked. So, we've had about five near misses in sending him back to the hospital, even though I parked the car right by the steps.

I finally get him inside and he takes a breath of air before relaxing his shoulders, releasing my hand as he stands in the foyer of the house. Kain closes the door behind me, it's been another week before Ray was released and Kain's arm is out of the cast now. Beyond the scar on his face, he doesn't look like he'd ever been in a major battle for his life.

"Can I get you two anything?" He beams at us, and Ray shakes his head no as he sheds his coat.

"Coffee." I order, taking off my own coat and then take Ray's and place them in the closet to my right.

Kain had already bounced out of the foyer to the kitchen before I set the coats away, Ray chuckles at our son and shakes his head a bit.

"Glad to see he's doing alright." He sighs out, and heads towards the kitchen after Kain and I follow behind him.

"Thanks." I take the mug Kain hands me as I sit at the table, Ray to my right and Kain sits across from him.

"So… I was thinking… That we should totally get your old team together again." He starts, Ray's face pales and I choke on my coffee.

"What?!" I manage.

"It's a great idea!" Kain pouts.

"No… No it is not." I scorn.

"Actually… I kind of miss them…" Ray sighs out, and for a second he looks sad.

"But daaaaad." Kain whines at me, and it makes my ear drums ring.

"Stop that!" I go to hit him but he's too fast and dodges it. "Damn neko-jin, sit still so I can hit you!" I go for him again, but he dodges a second and third time until I give up.

"Dad likes the idea." He motions towards Ray after I've given up on hitting him, going back to my coffee.

"It wouldn't hurt to see them…" He shrugs. "But, that's up to you Kai. It is your house."

"No. It's our house." I correct and give him a pointed stare, then sigh; damn my love for him. "I'll see what I can do." They both beam at me, and then all goes quiet for a few seconds.

"Thank you. I'll have to call Mariah and bring her here too, I'm sure I've missed about thirty or so calls from her." My muscles tense at the mention of the pink thing.

"Oh, she'll be here in an hour." My coffee spews out, and they both laugh at me. "She is my god-mother." As if that makes it better.

* * *

Getting a hold of the guys wasn't easy, but I did it and they were all coming out within the next month. True to Kain's words, Mariah showed up on my doorstep within the hour that day. Ray and her were close, much like they had been when teenagers, she fondled over Kain like a worried mother and gave me her congratulations at finally getting Ray and Kain back in my life. We actually had a few good laughs over stupid things, she told me how and when Ray had gone into labor in the middle of a baby store. He looked embarrassed, but I logged it away in the back of my head to make sure he didn't have a repeat this time around. Mariah only beamed brighter when Ray gave her the news of our second child, and immediately she dubbed herself the god-mother to this child as well.

Apparently, she was the only one out of his old team to have stuck by his side, he had returned to his village but was kicked out when they found out he was pregnant, something about them not accepting the fact that he was gay and that was why he had been in Shang Hai. There were a few other things she informed me of, but eventually I blocked her out as the night dragged on and went to bed.

I slightly woke up in the middle of the night, the bed dipping slightly as he climbed into it with me. My arms came around him, pulling him closer and taking in his scent and warmth. He released a purr and settled into my embrace, where we both fell asleep. This was how it was supposed to be, this is what we had strived for all along. I missed fifteen years, but that wasn't the end of it, this was just the beginning of our lives together. We were safe, Bryan had attested to that. I had my son, and my love with me once again.

"I love you." I mumbled into the back of his hair.

"Love you too." He mumbled back, and I held him tighter.

* * *

 **Kain's POV**

 _It was calling me, day and night. I tried with all I could to ignore it, but it left a burning pain in the pit of my stomach every time I did. I couldn't do this, I couldn't do it on my own and I never told my father's the pain I was going through. They were so happy, to bring that all crashing down on them; how could I?_

 _I didn't have any idea who could help me though, but I had to try; that much I knew. That's why I left, I left without a word to them. They didn't need me around, not while dad was fixing to bring an innocent child into the world. I was happy for them, they deserved this. When I had left they would be finding out soon what the child would be, boy or girl, and I couldn't stand in their way of their happiness. I'd be alright, I knew that much, and I could trust them to know that as well._

 _Don't get me wrong, I was happy to have both of them in my life. It had been my job to get them back together, but now it was my job to let them live this life happily together. The darkness, it was becoming too much for me to handle and I knew it would only cause more pain and destruction._

 _I stopped by their room that night, peeking in I saw them asleep. Dad facing the door like he always did, his raven hair released for once from its binding and his bangs hung around his content face. I could see the bulge of his stomach pushing around the sheets, he was getting big and I smiled at my unborn sibling. I could see my father's arms around dad, as always, holding him tight. His slate colored bangs barely visible over dad's head, and their breathing patterns were slow and even; they were truly happy._

 _Before dad could pick up my scent, I closed their door quietly and slipped out; that was the last time I saw them. How long has it been since that night? Three, four years?_

 _Seven, it's been seven years since I've seen them. I know that morning when they woke up they were panicked, concerned for me, but eventually they'd be alright with it; they had to be._

 _This darkness, the darkness that follows me hasn't left. It still burns in my chest, and I haven't found a way to stop it. I should go home, back to my parents and my unknown sibling, but I can't. Not until I fight this inside me, they're still not safe if I come back. I don't even know where I am now-a-days, one month I'll be in a country foreign to me and another the next month. It's been like this for seven years, and it's become my normal. Every time I go somewhere new, the darkness wants me to feed off the people around me, but I don't give in; I can't._

 _One day I'll go home, but today is not that day and neither is tomorrow. To be honest, I don't know when that will be. For now, I have to run. Run away from the authorities that are searching for me, run from the darkness as it's now holding onto me tighter as I've finally given in to it. It was a rush, the first time I used it and I don't feel guilty for killing those people; how can I? I can't, not when it beckoned my name, called me and held me in its warmth._

 _No, not today or tomorrow will I go home. Not next week or next month, I'll stay out here and take what I can because it's the only thing that quenches the pain and the burning. For now, this is my life and I don't want to give it up._


End file.
